New Beginnings, New Love
by AvianJen
Summary: A group of friends transfer to Sweet Amoris together in search of a fresh start, but nothing is like how they expected. Relationships will be tested as they make new friends, fall in love, have their hearts broken, and discover who they were meant to be in a high school where nothing is normal, and where there's always more than what meets the eye.
1. Chapter 1

_Carly Neilson_

Carly sighed, running a hand through her reddish brown hair, staring at her reflection in the mirror. This was it. The last day of her sophomore year. Another year had come and gone, and nothing in her life had changed. There had been no first kiss this year, no special academic award, no breakthrough solo in her choir class. She was just Carly, the invisible girl with the pretty face and the voice of an unheard angel. When would her life actually start?

After applying a quick layer of mascara, Carly swept her hair back in a purple headband and rushed downstairs for breakfast.

"Morning, Car," her dad greeted her, his eyes never leaving his newspaper.

"Hey, Dad," Carly replied, hastily pouring herself a bowl of cereal. She glanced at the clock; 7:36. Crap. She had spent too much time reflecting on her year. A bright yellow school bus appeared at her front door and honked.

"Have a good day," her dad said as she inhaled the rest of her breakfast.

"Yeah," she choked. Carly grabbed her worn out backpack from the recliner and picked her heeled ankle boots up from beside the door, not taking the time to put them on. She'd have plenty of time on the bus. "Bye, Dad!" she called.

The bus honked again, and she dashed out the door and scrambled onto the bus.

"Sorry," she apologized to the driver. He rolled his eyes and jerked his head to the back of the bus, silently ordering her to sit down. Carly lowered her eyes to the floor submissively and sank down into the empty seat behind him. She quickly strapped on her boots, and then leaned her head against the cold window. The bus bounced along the uneven pavement, transporting her to the last place she wanted to be: Lake View High School.

The place was a prison. It really, truly was. There had been a rumor going around for years that it was originally built as a jail, but they decided it was too gloomy. Carly knew it wasn't true, of course, but it was an entertaining thought. The hallways were narrow and dark; there were no windows. The school colors were black, gray, and white, and the mascot was a skunk. Really? A skunk? Of all the animals in the world, they had to pick a skunk. It was ridiculous.

Carly quietly made her way into the school, disappearing in the crowd of people. She walked with her head down, and wound her hair around her fingers to keep her hands occupied. Everyone was energetic today. Seniors stood in little groups around the entrance, giggling excitedly, discussing their futures. Freshmen hung out in smaller groups, intimidated by the vibrant atmosphere, but thrilled to have made it through their first year in the big leagues. The juniors and sophomores blended together in a jumbled mob, fighting their ways to their lockers. Carly allowed herself to be shoved around until she finally managed to get inside. Thank goodness her locker was at the end of the first hall as opposed to downstairs like some of her friends.

Carly emptied out her locker slowly, packing all of her remaining books and binders into her bag and carefully prying off the pictures from the inside. There was one of her and her parents at the beach last summer, playing volleyball. Carly sucked at volleyball, but it was great to play with her family. Her mom was a flight attendant, and was always away on business, but she had taken a whole week off to spend that part of the summer with them. They went to Aunt Jemma's house every summer, because she only lived twenty minutes away from the beach, and it was always fun, but a lot of times it was lonely. There wasn't anyone her age that she knew there, and her dad was great to hang around, but after a while Monopoly and Scrabble got old.

The second picture was of her and her friends. Carly had a very select group of friends, and they rarely talked to anyone outside of their circle, but fortunately, their circle was ten people big, Carly included, so there was always something new to talk about.

This particular picture showed her and her friends at their homecoming dance. They had all gone to Melanie Reed's house, because she had the best fashion sense and had basically chosen everyone's dress. Carly's had been a cute and flirty royal blue strapless number that flared out at the waist. Melanie's dress was equally awesome. She had worn a pastel pink dress with a floaty skirt and a sweetheart neckline, paired with sparkling silver jewelry and a large ring shaped like a rose. She had curled her short black hair so that it bounced whenever she did, which was quite a bit.

Her other friends had looked great, too. Dahlia was the only one who actually had a date; she and her long-time friend Ken had gone "as friends," which was really laughable because everyone could see that they liked each other.

Elena hadn't even wanted to go to the dance in the first place, and probably wouldn't have if the girls hadn't forced her. Frankie had caught Lena's boyfriend of almost a year making out with some bleach blonde cheerleader, which would have been bad enough if you don't count the fact that Lena was on the squad as well. Needless to say, she and the other girl, Amelia, haven't spoken since. Carrie, the star of the girls' basketball team, successfully turned just about everyone in the entire sports department against the boy in question, and he's no longer the chick magnet he used to be. Sammy did all but punch the jerk in the face, which she would have done if Luzma hadn't dragged her out of the way. Of course, that left Frankie an opening to kick his shin really hard, which she sometimes does when she's upset.

Oh, yeah. Mr. Jesse really regretted cheating on Lena after he had suffered the girls' wrath. Rachel and Monique had just stood in the background with Carly while the drama unfolded, but everyone was there for Lena. Actually, now that Carly thought about it, that little episode had been the _one_ interesting thing that had happened this year. Something had happened with Rachel as well, but she blatantly refused to tell anyone about it, and over time, the girls had stopped inquiring.

Carly smiled at the picture and tucked it into a pocket inside her bag, along with all the others. When her locker was completely empty, she left it opened as instructed and went to join her friends. They still had fifteen minutes before they had to get to class.

The girls were, predictably, in the sophomore stairwell leaning against the walls, chatting and watching the endless stream of people flood the staircase. Moni grinned when she saw Carly approaching, and called her friend over with her hand. Carly headed over without hesitation, and the girls made room for her in the circle without thinking. Sammy was bouncing up and down, unable to contain her boundless energy and excitement.

"I can't believe it's finally over!" she squealed. "Just have to get through four more stupid classes!"

"We watched Tangled in my English class yesterday," Rachel said. "It was kind of annoying because everyone kept quoting it and singing along…" her voice trailed off as she revisited the memory, "but my point is, we probably won't do anything."

"Oh, that's good," Carly sighed, throwing her head back in relief. "I'm exhausted."

"I'm tired too," Carrie admitted, "but c'mon, Car! It's our last day!"

"I don't know," Carly groaned. "I just really, really want a change of scenery, you know? I'm sick of going to school in a prison." The girls giggled at the reference, but then turned serious.

"Yeah, me too, I guess," Melanie revealed. "It might be nice to go somewhere else, but what can we do?"

"I'd love to get out of here," Elena grumbled. Right on cue, Jesse entered the staircase. They stared each other down, waging a silent battle until Jesse's friend got annoyed and shoved him up the stairs.

"I don't know…I kinda like it here…" Dahlia said dreamily, staring off into space.

"Yes, and we all know why, Barbie," Melanie laughed.

"Oh, shut up, Mel," Dahlia said, punching Melanie in the shoulder playfully.

"I'm going up to my Aunt's this summer," Carly told them, changing the subject. "She lives right next to the beach. My mom's gonna come out, too."

"Take me with you," Lena moaned, still staring after Jesse.

"Holy crap, Lena, get over the stupid guy," Luzma sighed, exasperated. She brightened up quickly, though. _"Could_ we come though, Car? Maybe? I don't get to go back to Cali this summer, so I'm not gonna have anything else to do. And didn't you say before that your aunt lives in like, a mansion?"

"It's not a mansion, really," Carly clarified. "But yeah, her house is pretty massive, and it has a pretty sweet basement all decked out with air hockey and ping pong and whatnot. And like…" Carly counted on her fingers, "six bedrooms? Not including the basement; there's two more down there."

"Air hockey?" Carrie gasped, her smile widening. "That's a deal-breaker, right there. I'm coming." Carly grinned. It would be fun to have her friends come out for part of the summer. The community was great, there were some great stores, the beach was beautiful but never too crowded, and Aunt Jemma had the most amazing closet in the basement full of old vintage costumes. Carly would spend hours down there sometimes trying on all the Victorian dresses and princess ball gowns. Sometimes, she would even do a little photo shoot. Doing that with someone other than just herself would be a gazillion times more fun.

"Well…" she hesitated, "I'd have to ask Aunt Jemma, and my parents, of course, I mean, ten girls…"

"C'mon! What trouble could we possibly cause?" Frankie joked, blinking her green eyes innocently and swirling around her red and white polka dot dress.

"Oh, I can think of a few things," Rachel muttered, unsuccessfully trying to hide her smirk. Frankie stuck out her tongue, eliciting giggles from everyone.

The bell rang for class, and the girls parted ways. Carly headed upstairs to English, where she, true to Rachel's word, got to watch Tangled. Her class didn't sing like Rachel's had, but they did quote the movie a lot. But Carly herself was among them, so it didn't bother her.

The end of the day came quickly, and if the atmosphere had been overwhelming in the morning, it was nothing compared to now. The decibel level had raised quite a few measures as seniors paraded down the halls, throwing their papers in the air. Carly stayed out of everyone's way as much as possible, but she still got rammed into several times by excited students on their way out, and one boy had the nerve to actually pick her up from behind and spin her around, causing her to shriek in surprise and spill everything onto the floor. The boy apologized quickly, but didn't stay to help her clean up.

She barely made it to the bus loop before they pulled out, and she spent the entire twenty minutes ride hoping and praying and crossing her fingers, willing her parents and Aunt Jemma to let her friends come out. Maybe not for the whole summer, but at least a week would be nice. She'd have someone to keep her company when Mom and Dad went on date nights.

Carly was pretty confident that her parents would be okay with it. And Aunt Jemma was okay with just about anything. It'd be fine.

"Hey, Dad?" Carly called as she walked inside her house.

"Yeah, Car?" her dad called from the other room.

"Would it be okay if I had some friends come to Aunt Jemma's this summer? For like, a week or two?" Her dad appeared in the doorway of his office, a knowing grin on his face.

"Just how many friends are we talking about here, hun?" he questioned.

"Oh, um, just a few…I was thinking Rachel, Elena, Dahlia, Frankie, Monique, Melanie, Luzma, Sammy, and Carrie?" Carly said hopefully. Her dad raised an eyebrow as if to say, "Are you kidding me?" Carly sighed and threw her hands up in the air, surrendering.

"Okay, fine," she said. "I just thought, you know, it might be fun to have a couple friends at the beach this year, that's all."

"You don't want to go this year?" her dad asked, furrowing his brow in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because I'm always alone!" Carly answered. "I don't know anyone who lives there!" Her dad sighed and ran a hand through his hair, peering at her from above his rectangular glasses.

"I just don't know, Car. We can hardly ask Jemma to play host to nine extra girls."

"Just let me call her," Carly begged. "If she says okay, will you let them come? Please?"

"If Jemma doesn't care, go for it," he told her, shrugging his shoulders. "But I wouldn't get your hopes up."

"'Kay. Thanks, Dad!" Carly squealed. She ran upstairs to her bedroom for some privacy and punched Aunt Jemma's number into her phone.

"Aloha?" Aunt Jemma's voice answered.

"Aunt Jemma! It's Carly."

"Oh, hi sweetie? How goes it?"

"I'm fine, thanks. I'm really looking forward to coming up to your house this summer."

"And I'm looking forward to having you, dah-link," Aunt Jemma said sweetly. "Is there something you need, fairy? I hate to be rude, but I'm late for a costume meeting with the community theater group and I've really got to run…"

"Oh, yes!" Carly said hurriedly. "Could I have some friends over for a week or two at the end of the summer?"

"How many?"

"Nine."

"Oh, sure, why not? The more the merrier! I've gotta go, fairy. See you in a week!"

"Thank you so much, Aunt Jemma!" said Carly. "See you later!"

"Toodles!" Aunt Jemma hung up, and Carly did a happy dance around her room. She'd get to have fun this summer! Once she was exhausted from jumping around, she took out her phone again and sent out a mass text to her friends.

Carly: ladies, we've got summer in the bag! xoxo carly

**I hope you liked it! I'm sorry, that chapter was kind of slow, but every story needs an exposition, right? It'll speed up. **

**Okay, so I need a little help here. Do you guys like the way it's written, or should I just have this prologue be in 3****rd**** person and have the rest in 1****st****? Or, I could even do a mixture if you wanted. And would you like different chapters to mainly focus on just a couple girls, or do you like having them all together? I feel like it would be better if it was more specific, but I don't want you guys to not read the chapter because your character isn't in it. What do you guys think of the girls so far? **

**Tell me what you think in a review!**

**Luv yah,**

**Ava **


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all your feedback! Most of you guys seemed to want a combination of first and third person, so I'll give that a try. Tell me if you think it seems a little too jumpy; sometimes switching POV's can mess up the pacing, and I'm still trying to get accustomed to everyone's personalities, but I'll give it a go. **

**The girls are going to come at different times so no one gets overwhelmed, so I'm sorry if your girly isn't in here.**

**By the way, if you guys want to friend me on MCL, I have six accounts (don't judge me, I couldn't pick just one guy! ;) Anyways, my usernames are Rendell, Adelphie, Laurylin, Liasyma, Erizelda, and Aurelea. I don't like having numbers in my names, especially since they call you by your username…so I came up with some interesting names, don't you think? **

**Hope you like!**

_Melanie Reed_

This is so exciting! I haven't been to the beach in forever. And according to Carly, her aunt has lots of amazing clothes. From what I hear, I'll be in fashion heaven.

Dahlia and Luzma are carpooling with me up here. It's only about a five hour drive from our hometown to Miss Jemma's house, but I was not going to drive all by myself, I honestly don't trust Dahlia to drive herself, and Luzma's actually pretty good, seeing as her dad's a professional truck driver. She learned young. Needless to say, she's driving us.

Over the past few hours, we've exhausted just about every topic we can think of. I didn't really do anything this summer; mostly I stayed at home and finished up sketching my latest clothing line. It's a hobby of mine, designing clothes. I've got five finished collections now, and I'm hoping to be inspired by the beach to make a sixth. It would be really cool if I could actually sew and make my stuff, but I suck at sewing, and no one in my foster family can either. Hopefully when I'm eighteen, I can finally collect my inheritance and then I'll be able to pay someone to make my clothes. Maybe they'll give me a spot on Project Runway or something.

"Mel, where'd you say it is?" Luzma asks, scanning the landscape anxiously. "I don't want to miss the exit."

"It's Exit 56," I tell her, glancing down at the directions on my phone. Luzma lets out an irritated sigh.

"I passed that exit ten minutes ago, Mel!"

"Well, turn around then!" Dahlia grumbles from the backseat. We were all reaching that point where anything anyone says immediately ticks you off. Luzma's car doesn't have a TV; otherwise, Dahlia and I would be having a Harry Potter marathon right now.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Luzma snaps, pulling into a random fast food restaurant and maneuvering the car around.

"You're turning around," Dahlia replies matter-of-factly. "And I'm thanking you for it."

"You're very welcome, princess," Luzma mutters. Man, the beach is going to be like Heaven once this drive is over.

For the next half an hour, my GPS leads us in circles. There's an insane amount of construction work going on, and thanks to it, basically all the roads we need are closed. Finally, Luzma just pulls off on the side of the road before we end up in a giant traffic circle. Dahlia, who had been asleep for the past few minutes, jolts awake at the sudden lack of movement, and stares at us with wide blue eyes.

"Are we there yet?" she asks hopefully.

"No," Luzma sighs. "Melanie's calling Carly for directions." Oh, okay then. I find Carly's number on my speed dial and hold the phone to my ear, plugging the other to block out the construction noise.

"Hello?" Carly picks up the phone.

"Hey, Car, it's Melanie."

"Where the heck are you guys? We were expecting you like, an hour ago!"

"We, uh, might have gotten lost."

"Mel…" Carly groans. "Everyone's getting really impatient, and Aunt Jemma has a friend she's meeting on the beach."

"All the roads are closed!" I say defensively. "How do we get there?"

"Gosh, Mel, I don't know…"

"You don't know how to get to your own house?"

"Okay, let me handle this," Luzma steps in, taking the phone from me. "Carly," she says pointedly, "we are tired and hungry, and I _really_ need to pee. Please advise." Luzma listens to Carly's reply and then nods her head, despite the fact that Car can't see her.

"Okay," she says finally. "Okay, thanks, we'll give that a try. Don't wait up." Luzma hangs up the phone and gives it back to me.

"She forgot where she lives, didn't she?" Dahlia giggles.

"Yes, she did," Luzma replies, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips, "but she said if we go straight for about ten minutes, we'll get to the town, and there's a big mall where we can find a map or something, along with a restroom and somewhere to eat."

"Did she remember where the mall is?" Dahlia asks.

"Nope, of course not," Luzma shakes her head. "But she said it's super big; we can't miss it."

"She'd better be right," I mumble, slumping down in my seat. "I've gotta pee too."

Thank goodness Carly was telling the truth when she said the mall was hard to miss. By the looks of it, shopping is everyone's favorite hobby here. Which is entirely fine by me. This mall sprawls out for what seems like forever, and it looks like it's touching the sky. It's packed, and the only parking spot we find is on the far side of the parking lot, but by now both me and Luzma really have to use the bathroom, so we're gonna take it.

Inside, the mall is even more luxurious. The lights are golden and warm, and the shops are modern and chic and expensive looking. People crowd every single storefront, and I wonder how many of these people actually live in town. Amoris is a pretty small town; Carly always complained about there hardly being any teenagers.

After a quick trip to the bathroom, we head off in search of food, and, because we deserve amazing food after that stressful journey, decide on Dunkin' Donuts. Yay sugar! Once we're done eating, we hunt for a map of the area.

Suddenly, something catches my eye.

It's a dress. A dress standing in the window of a small store called Oracle. But this is not just any dress, no; this is the most gorgeous dress I've ever seen. Well, the most gorgeous sundress.

I must have it.

"I'm going in there," I announce, and march directly into the store called Oracle, approaching the satiny blue work of art that's so desperately calling my name. I reach inside the back of the dress and pull out the price tag for examination. My heart sinks all the way to my feet.

DISPLAY ONLY. NOT FOR SALE.

"No!" I groan, stomping my foot angrily on the tiled floor. Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse.

"May I help you?" a quiet voice asks me from behind. Startled, I whip around to find myself face to face with a tall guy with black hair that perfectly frames his expressionless face. He's wearing a long-sleeved black waistcoat with a ruffled purple collar that looks like it came right out of the Middle Ages. I say the first thing that comes to mind.

"You look like William Shakespeare." He furrows his brow slightly, confused.

"I'm sorry?"

"William Shakespeare, the English playwright. You look just like him," I repeat. It doesn't even occur to me that he might find my statement offensive. The boy looks down at his clothes, finally understanding, but he doesn't seem to have any additional opinions on the subject.

"I think it's fabulous," I tell him quickly, turning my probably-insult into a compliment. "William Shakespeare is like…my fashion idol." Yeah, that's what I meant to say.

"May I help you with something?" he asks again, unwilling to go farther into the topic of his strange attire. I glance longingly at the dress and then back at him.

"It was made for me…" I say, practically begging him to sell it. The corners of his lips turn up in a tiny smile.

"It's one of a kind," he says.

"Well, can the designer make it two of a kind?" I suggest. I am not letting this dress go without a fight. The boy shakes his head sadly.

"I'm afraid not," he tells me. "The designer really doesn't want to make another one."

"Well, who's the designer? I would like to speak with them." But I won't get the chance to, because Dahlia and Luzma have finally found me. Apparently, they didn't hear my announcement.

"C'mon, Mel, we got a map," Dahlia says. "If we're lucky we can still catch Carly at the beach." She drags me away, not even bothering to say hello to Shakespeare or to ask if I'm ready to leave yet. She wants to go to the beach. And I guess I can't blame her.

I leave the beautiful dress begrudgingly, along with the strange man standing next to it.

It doesn't hit me until we're fifteen minutes down the road that I really should have asked his name, because I'm pretty sure it wasn't William.

_Luzma Alejandri-Cruz_

Oh. My. Gosh. We made it. We went straight to the beach, hoping we'd be able to catch Carly there, and the bad luck fairy must have decided to give us a break, because she's still here. She's easy to spot, with her neon green bikini and all. She and a lady who I assume is Aunt Jemma are sitting on the dry sand, examining seashells.

Gosh, I can't even describe how much I've missed the beach. I used to spend most of my time there when I lived in southern California. I miss it so much it drives me crazy.

"Hey, guys, why don't we surprise her?" I suggest, suddenly in an exceptional mood now that we're finally here. "Grab your bathing suits and we'll go change."

"Oh, okay!" Dahlia agrees happily. She digs through her backpack of "things that might be needed at a moment's notice" until she finds her pink floral monokini. Melanie finds her bathing suit, and I fish mine out of my giant duffel bag. I don't really like to think ahead.

There's a little bathroom complex behind the surf shop, so we change there and throw our street clothes into Dahlia's Sailor Moon messenger bag.

"Let's sneak up on her, 'kay?" Dahlia says. "I wanna freak her out." Melanie grins in approval, and I have to smile as well. Carly's easy to scare.

Slowly, we approach our friend from behind, our footsteps silent in the white sand. Jemma sees us approach, and gives us a questioning look. Dahlia holds her fingers to her lips, signaling that it's supposed to be a surprise, and Jemma seems to understand, because her magenta eyes (no doubt color contacts) light up and she glances back down. Meanwhile, Carly is closely examining an almost perfect shell.

"BOO!" Melanie screams suddenly, sending Carly into a panic. She freaks out and scrambles to hide behind Jemma without even looking back. Jemma cracks up, and when Carly peeks out from around her shoulder and sees us, her face turns bright red. She stands up and brushes the sand off of her knees.

"I wasn't scared," she says defensively.

"Yes you were," I reply simply. "You were terrified."

"Ugh, I hate you guys!" Carly grumbles. But despite her "overwhelming" feelings of hate, she gives us each a big hug.

"I didn't think you'd make it, Luz," she jokes.

"You have so little faith in us!" says Dahlia.

"You didn't do anything, Dahli-chan," I tell her in a condescending voice, "except sleep."

"Not true! I got Melanie out of that store!" I think back for a minute, recalling the event.

"Oh, yeah, I guess you did," I agree. "Good job." Dahlia curtseys and Melanie rolls her eyes.

"That dress was calling me!" she says.

"The dress, maybe, but not the dude standing next to it," I tease her. Melanie actually laughs. Everyone knows she couldn't flirt if her life depended on it. And her life hadn't depended on it, but that dress had, and she had totally blown it from what I could tell. Oh, well. It's not like she actually liked him, and besides, we probably won't ever see the dude again.

"Alright, fairies, this conversation is going nowhere," Aunt Jemma says, standing up and ridding her glittery bathing suit of sand. She flips a strand of long, wet reddish brown hair behind her shoulder and extends her hand to me. "I'm Jemma," she says.

"Luzma," I say cordially, taking her hand and shaking it.

"I'm Dahlia."

"Melanie."

"I'm uber excited to meet you all," Jemma says with a smile. "Now, if you'll excuse me, watching salt water makes me quite thirsty." Jemma pranced over to a vendor patrolling the beach with a spring in her step, her ridiculously long hair flying out behind her.

"So, do you know when everyone else is getting here?" Carly asks us.

"Rachel and Sammy are driving up together sometime today, but they didn't want to wake up early. Rachel estimated five or six o'clock, but if they have the same navigating problems as us, I'd guess eight," Dahlia says.

"And Carrie said she'd come up tomorrow. Her little brother had some camp graduation thing she has to go to today," Melanie adds. "That's all I know for sure."

"Okay," Carly nods. "So, what do you want to do?"

"I'm exhausted," I admit. "I'm just going to relax for a while, listen to the ocean. You guys can do whatever, though."

"Okay, well, I kinda wanted to go swimming," Dahlia says. Melanie agrees, and the three of them run towards the ocean. I watch Carly dunk Dahlia under and giggle to myself, reminded once again of the beaches in California.

I don't bother to unpack my stuff; instead I take advantage of Carly's nice little set up, complete with a pretty Vera Bradley umbrella and comfy lawn chairs. I grab Carly's sunglasses from her bag because I forgot mine in the car, and slide them over my eyes. Plopping down in the chair, I watch my friends frolicking in the waves until sleep finds me.

When I wake up, Carly, Dahlia, and Melanie are still playing in the water, and after sitting there doing nothing for several minutes, I get bored. It'd be nice to get up and walk around.

I don't know what Carly was talking about when she said there wasn't anyone to hang around with on the beach. It isn't very busy at the moment, but most everyone here is a teenager. There's a boy and a girl not far from here playing with tennis rackets, a boy with red hair walking his dog, a big group of girls sitting in a circle building a massive sandcastle, and a solitary girl with purple hair drawing in a large green notebook. Maybe if Carly had actually used her eyes, she would have seen that. But I'm not complaining; I love the ocean and the beach, and I'm glad Jemma was kind enough to extend an invitation to all of us. I really hate back home.

"Hey, gorgeous! You alone?" a thickly accented voice asks. I roll my eyes. Not one of these guys…

"No, I'm not alone, I happen to be here with my friends," I reply without looking back.

"Ah, I see. Well, they can survive your absence for five minutes, can't they?" The person speaking steps around me, entering my line of sight. I'm only slightly surprised to see that the voice with the Australian accent belongs to a boy about my age, with dark golden blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, hypnotizing blue eyes, and a toned, tan body. What surprises me more is the plethora of tattoos covering his left arm and part of his chest.

"I'm really not interested," I tell him. When he doesn't move, I turn around and start heading the other way.

"Hey, c'mon, wait up!" the boy calls, running to catch up with me. "C'mon, at least tell me your name." Fine. Fine, I can play along. I stop in my tracks and turn to face him.

"My name is Luzma," I tell him. "What's yours?"

"Dakota," he answers. "But most people call me Dake."

"Okay." Well, now I don't know what to call him. He's a little odd, but his accent is adorable, I'll give him that. "Where are you from?"

"Australia," he says with a grin. "I just come up here for the summer. The waves are great."

"Oh, so you like to surf?" I probably should have picked that up from the blue surfboard he's holding, but oh, well.

"Yeah. You ever tried?" I'm ashamed to say that I haven't. He sees right through me and laughs. "I can give you a quick lesson," he offers. Well, just walking was starting to get boring, I guess.

"Yeah, okay," I agree. He grabs my hand without my approval and leads me to the water. He tries out several pick-up lines on me as he teaches me the basics, and I have to admit that it's kind of cute. I don't shun his advances, because he says he's just up here for the summer, and I've dated guys like him before. These things never last, but they can be kind of fun.

"Hey, you wanna try to stand up on the board, now?" he asks. The surfboard floats on the water between us.

"You do realize I'm going to fall, right?"

"Eh, everyone falls their first time, besides, it's just water," Dake shrugs, grinning. I figure that this is probably true, so I agree to give it a try. "You'll love it," he assures me with a coy smile. Okay, then. He helps me up on to the board and, right on cue, I topple off into the water. Dake laughs and leans over to help me up.

He kisses me instead.

It takes me completely by surprise, and I don't know how to react as he pulls me closer and winds his hands in my hair. It's not that I have a problem with him kissing me; he's a darn good kisser, I just…wait. I do have a problem with him kissing me. I met him fifteen minutes ago! But at the same time…I kind of like it.

"LUZMA!? Is that you?" No, way. He's here too? Well, I guess it gives me an excuse to get out of this. I pull away from Dake and turn towards the voice.

"Ken? What are you doing here?" Ken, another guy from school, is standing at the water's edge. Dake shoots him a dirty look, and the little boy blushes profusely.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you…" he begins, looking at the ground and wringing his hands, "I was just wondering if Dahlia was here, too?" I grin at him. He's absolutely in love with Dahlia. It's really adorable.

"Yeah, she's farther down that way," I tell him, pointing in the direction to where I left Mel, Carly and Dahlia. "But what are you doing here?"

"Well, you know my parents are divorced and my dad lives in town. But thanks, Luzma! Sorry to bother you!" Ken bounces off towards the love of his life, and I watch him go. Dahlia will be happy to see him. They've been friends forever.

"Who was that?" Dake laughs.

"That's Ken. He and my friend Dahlia are really good friends."

"Ah, so he's not my competition, then?"

"Absolutely not," I reply, rolling my eyes. "But you know, you really shouldn't kiss a girl on a first date."

"Then I can't wait for our second date," he winks.

_Dahlia Hope_

"Dahlia! DAHLIA!"

"Oh my gosh, Dahlia, it's Ken!" Carly shouts at me. I look up from the water and see my old best friend Ken rushing towards us, and my face breaks into a smile. How the heck did he end up here?

"Ken!" I holler. I can't believe it! He splashes clumsily into the water, and I hug him without hesitation.

"This is so awesome, we're at the same vacation spot!" he squeals enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's awesome! Why are you here?"

"I'm visiting my dad," he responds. "What about you? I saw Luzma already."

"We're staying with Carly's Aunt Jemma for the next week," I say, gesturing towards Carly and Melanie. They wave hello and continue splashing in the water.

"Ooh, maybe we could hang out sometime?" Ken suggests.

"Sure," I agree. Suddenly, my stomach makes a loud grumbling noise. "Hey, Ken?"

"Huh?"

"You wouldn't happen to have any cookies on you, would you?" Ken grins widely, his eyes alight with excitement.

"I sure do. You want some?"

"Yes."

"Okay!" Ken climbs out of the water and leads me to his cookie stash. Cookies are kind of our thing.

"So how long are you gonna be staying, do you think?" I ask him in between bites. Ken's smile melts away, and he stares at the ground.

"I'm actually staying here," he says sadly. My cookie falls into the sand.

"What!?"

"Yeah…my dad made a case for custody because my mom's having a hard time keeping a steady job and well…" Ken sniffles, "he won."

"No, you can't stay here!" I protest. "You've got to come back so we can suffer Pre-Calculus together!" He's just joking. He's not serious. He _can't_ be serious; he's my best friend!

"I'm really gonna miss you, Dahlia," Ken says softly, unwilling to meet my eyes. "But, we can still have fun for the next week, right?"

"Right," I say. I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry because then he's going to cry and neither of us is going to be able to stop. "Right," I say again. "We still have this week. And Skype, and texting, and email, and Facebook, and…" I proceed to list all of the social networks known to mankind, and Ken's smile slowly returns. We share another hug and eat the rest of our cookies in silence.

When we're finished, Carly and Melanie come up.

"Hey, we're gonna find Luz, and then we've gotta go," Carly says. "Auntie's friend didn't show, so apparently her family is coming over for dinner and we've all got to shower and stuff. Plus, we need to be back at the house before everyone else starts showing up." I nod and climb to my feet.

"See you later, Ken," I say, not wanting to disclose the heart-wrenching news to my friends right now. Apparently he doesn't either, because he just looks up at me and smiles again.

"Bye, Dahlia!" he says in his usual cheery voice. I give him a sad smile and head off with Melanie and Carly to find Luzma.

**Hope you guys liked it! Tell me what you thought and if you have any suggestions. Thanks!**

**Oh, and if you haven't put the story on alert, I highly suggest you do that, because I'm not PM-ing everyone ever single time I update :p**

**Luv yah, **

**Ava**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hola! This chapter is from Carly's perspective because no one is meeting their guys here :( Sorry…**

**Enjoy!**

_Carly Neilson_

"Grrrrr! I can't believe Miranda had the nerve to cancel on me!" Aunt Jemma grumbles on the drive back to her place. "And then she thinks she can just waltz over for dinner instead! And she wants to bring her daughter! I've never met her stupid daughter! She's named after a country, so I think I'd remember…"

"Jemma," Dad says soothingly, "it's going to be fine."

"It is absolutely not going to be fine!" Aunt Jemma whines. "Miranda is so judgmental! It's all 'I have a husband and you don't,' or 'I can make much better lasagna than you, Emma!' And yes, she calls me Emma. EMMA!"

"Aunt Jemma?" I say softly from the back seat. "If you don't mind my asking, why are you friends with her if you don't like her?"

"Oh, I like her just fine, fairy," Jemma says, her voice suddenly at a normal decibel level. "She's a wonderful person." Huh? I'm not even going to ask. Why didn't I ride with Luzma and Dahlia and Melanie when I had the chance? Sometimes I'm just so stupid.

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I unlock it to read the message.

_Carrie: where r u? im in front of the house_

I quickly type in a reply.

_Carly: we're getting back from the beach now, should b there any sec_

_Carrie: kk_

Sure enough, when we round the corner into Aunt Jemma's driveway, Carrie is sitting on the porch steps, her dad's Jeep parked out front. I'm surprised he let her borrow that thing; it's like his favorite child.

Carrie looks up as we pull into the garage and grins, the sun making her blonde ponytail look ten times shinier than it really is. She waves enthusiastically as we get out of the car. Luzma, Dahlia, and Melanie follow closely behind, and they park on the side of the driveway hurriedly before jumping out and running to Carrie.

"You made it! I thought you were coming tomorrow!" Melanie squeals.

"David's ceremony got postponed," Carrie shrugged. "Mom and Dad said I could go ahead and come up, so I figured I'd surprise you guys."

"And you didn't get lost?" Luzma asks incredulously. Carrie shakes her head no. Dahlia remains oddly silent.

"No, it was pretty easy to find. I mean, it's practically a castle." The girls stared up at the three story house in awe, just now noticing it. I have to admit, it is pretty impressive. When I was little, I always used to feel like a princess coming here because it always felt like a palace. It's made almost entirely out of gray stones that fit together like puzzle pieces, and has huge columns on the front porch to hold the balcony. There's another balcony on the top loft floor with a hot tub that overlooks the pool area. Aunt Jemma always said she hated the pool, because you didn't really need one when you lived twenty minutes away from a beautiful beach, but it does come in handy when you want to throw parties, and parties are Jemma's specialty. Especially costume parties. I've only been to one of Auntie's Halloween parties, but they are to die for. No pun intended.

I help everyone haul their luggage inside and take them downstairs to the basement, where we'll be sleeping for the most part. I swear none of them blink even once. They're trying to take in the magnificence of it all, and I don't blame them. Auntie's house is the most luxurious personal dwelling I've ever set foot inside. The basement has a flat screen TV and a sitting area with a curved white leather couch, vintage movie posters on the wall, and an air hockey table, as I promised Carrie. There are five little rooms adjacent to the main room, two of which have bunk beds. Two of them have queen sized beds, and one has a twin. There's also a pull-out couch in the sitting area, so we should have enough room. My usual bedroom is upstairs, but since all my friends will be down here, I'll stay with them.

Carrie and Dahlia immediately claim one of the bunk rooms, with Dahlia on top. Melanie and Luzma decide to share one of the rooms with the queens. I really want the pull-out couch so that I can watch TV while I fall asleep, so I claim it by draping my sweater over the back.

"So, who's this person coming over for dinner?" Melanie asks.

"Auntie's best friend, Miranda. She's bringing her daughter, as well. I don't know her name, but according to Aunt Jemma, she's named after a country."

"Well, that's interesting," Carrie comments. "I wonder what she's like?"

"Dunno, never met her," I shrug.

"Hmm. I guess we'll find out later," Luzma says. She glances over at Carrie. "Wanna give the air hockey a go?"

"Duh! Ten bucks says I win before you even get one point."

"It's on, blondie!"

While Carrie and Luzma are downstairs playing air hockey, Melanie and Dahlia and I go upstairs. I offer to play something on the grand piano in the sunroom so that Dahlia and I can sing, but she refuses. Something's up with her. I'll have to remind myself to ask her what it is later, when no one else is around. It's not that Melanie's not trustworthy, but Dahlia will be more likely to open up if it's just the two of us.

Melanie decides to work on some of her designs in the sun room, and Dahlia comes along and plops down on the loveseat in there, texting someone on her phone. Not knowing what else to do, I take Auntie's piano books and play "My Heart Will Go On" from the Titanic movie. For some reason, this makes Dahlia look like she's about to cry, so she excuses herself to go back downstairs to unpack. Melanie raises her eyebrows at me in question, and I just shrug in response. Something is definitely wrong.

Suddenly, the doorbell rings. Auntie prances over from the kitchen, wearing a gaudy apron covered in tomato sauce. I guess she's making that lasagna that Miranda likes so well. She opens the door, revealing Elena, Frankie, and Monique. Melanie jumps out of her chair and tosses her sketchbook down, rushing past Auntie to hug them. I stop playing my song and stand up to say hi as well. Aunt Jemma invites everyone inside, and they manage to squeeze through the door despite their insane amount of luggage. Monique definitely over packed.

Elena sighs and dumps her bags on the floor.

"I. Am. Exhausted," she manages. "I could not sleep at all last night."

"You slept the entire way here," Frankie tells her with a smile.

"Okay, okay," Auntie cuts them off. She shakes hands with each of the girls quickly and asks for their names in return for hers before running back to the kitchen.

"I thought you said she was funny?" Monique questions, staring after Aunt Jemma with a perplexed stare.

"She is," I say. "She's just really stressed out. Her judgmental friend is coming over for dinner with her daughter and she wants her lasagna to be perfect this time."

"So, she probably doesn't want us here right now, does she?" Elena laughs. I shake my head.

"No, no she probably doesn't."

"Ooh! There's a piano!" Frankie squeaks, a hint of her British accent coming through. Frankie lived in England for most of her childhood, but she moved to America about two years ago. Her accent is slowly fading, but it's still there for the most part. She dashes over to the piano and immediately starts playing a song from The Hunger Games called "Safe and Sound."

"Sing with me, my angel of music!" she cries. Elena rolls her eyes and collapses on the loveseat, falling asleep almost instantaneously. I grin. Frankie and I have been working on perfecting these harmonies forever, and then we plan to record it on Garage Band or something. We're both pretty good singers. Frankie's more of a soprano than I am, but she tends to have a hard time bringing the low notes out against the loudness of the piano, whereas I'm stronger in my lower register. Elena can play piano as well, but she's out cold. Monique can sing as well, but she's better with a pencil.

Most of us are musical in some way or another. We're all either musical, artistic, or a little bit of both. I can't draw to save my life, save for a cartoon Perry the Platypus. I can also draw a totally beast stick figure Harry Potter. And very, very, very abstract flowers. But…that's the extent of my artistic knowledge.

When the song is over, Melanie and Monique clap enthusiastically.

"That's awesome, you guys," Moni compliments us. "You've really improved on that song." She smiles sweetly, and it's hard to tell if she's genuine or not, but Frankie and I accept her praise graciously, because it's true, we have improved.

"Lena! Wake up!" Frankie yells. Lena, still exhausted, opens her eyes slowly.

"Hmm?" she says.

"We're going to go put our stuff away," Frankie announces. Oh, okay then. Downstairs again, I guess. Lena moans and forces herself to sit up and hoist her heavy bags over her shoulders.

"Where're we going, Car?" she asks sleepily. In response, I lead Elena and Frankie and Monique downstairs. Melanie goes back to her sketchbook.

"Hey, you guys are here!" Luzma greets us as we come downstairs. She and Carrie are still engaged in a heated air hockey match. The puck glides back and forth faster than my eyes can follow it. Carrie has six points, and Luzma has zero, but considering Carrie's prowess with all things game-related, I'm pretty impressed Luzma's made it this far. The door to Dahlia and Carrie's room is closed.

Frankie and Monique take the other bunk room, and Lena wants the bed with the twin so she can stay up late reading. That'll leave Rachel and Sammy the other queen room, and me the couch, just like I wanted. Having friends over during the summer is fun.

"When are Rachel and Sammy getting here?" Carrie asks as she scores her seventh point.

"I don't know," I say. Monique shrugs and Frankie shakes her head. Lena's lying down on the pull-out couch tracing pictures in the air. I have to smile because I do that too when I'm tired.

"I'll text Sam," Moni volunteers, pulling her phone out of her back pocket. She punches in a message and we chat absentmindedly until her phone beeps again.

"They're lost," Monique tells us. Luzma cracks up, allowing Carrie to score another point.

"So it's not just me!" Luzma shouts victoriously. "I'm not crazy!" She punches the air and spins around in a circle.

"You sure about that, Luz?" Lena asks, still drawing invisible pictures.

"Shut up, Lena," Luzma retorts, serving the puck across the table.

"Where's Dahlia?" Elena asks us, sitting up. "Didn't she come with you, Luzma?"

"She's in her room," Luzma replies.

"She was upset about something," I say. "I didn't get to find out what. But we happened to see Ken at the beach, and she was fine before then, so it might have something to do with him."

"I wonder if he has a new girlfriend or something," Moni muses. "I mean, she won't admit it, but we all know she likes him."

"_She _can hear you!" Dahlia shouts from her room, her voice harsh. "Just leave me alone, okay?"

"Dahli-chan?" Elena magically finds the strength to stand up and venture over to the door. She leans against it and presses her ear against the wood. "You okay, girly?"

"No."

"Do you want to talk about it?" There's a long pause before she finally answers.

"Yes." We all move towards the door simultaneously, but Elena holds up her hand.

"Just me, or everyone?" she asks Dahlia. There's a much shorter pause this time.

"Just you," Dahlia says. Lena slips into the dark room and leaves us all in the sitting area to wonder what's wrong.

Elena stays in the room with Dahlia for a long time, and eventually, being teenage girls with short attention spans, we lose interest. Luzma's down fifty bucks now from playing against Carrie, and Melanie finally decided to come downstairs and join the party. We're all obsessed with old Disney movies, and Auntie has them all on VHS, so we put in Robin Hood and half-watch it while we talk. It doesn't take long for me to learn that Luzma kissed a total stranger today (which she received twenty minutes of shunning for) and Melanie found the dress of her dreams. And William Shakespeare. But mostly the dress of her dreams, I think. From what I can tell, she's quite infuriated with poor William because he wouldn't sell it to her. Oh, well. Maybe we can go back sometime this week and persuade him.

Eventually, Elena and Dahlia emerge from the bedroom, but they both refuse to divulge the secrets they've shared. The rest of us feel left out, but only slightly. They'll spill soon enough. Dahlia is much happier now that she's talked to Elena about whatever was bothering her, and is very excited to watch Robin Hood, although she requests that the next movie we watch be Thumbelina, which is not Disney at all, but is still quite good.

At around six, the doorbell rings again, and we rush upstairs, hoping to find Sammy and Rachel waiting outside. I open the door, anticipating more squeals and hugs, but the people waiting outside are not Sammy and Rachel at all. There's a woman who looks like she's in her late thirties to early forties, with platinum blond hair and a waist about the size of a toilet paper roll. She's wearing a hot pink top and dark blue jeans, paired with wedge sandals. A young girl stands beside her. They look very similar in their facial structures and their hair, but this girl isn't all dressed up; she's just wearing a pair of faded jeans and a dusty purple t-shirt.

"You must be Miranda," I greet the woman, putting pieces together. I look towards her daughter. "And this is…?"

"I'm German," the girl says. She offers me a small smile, but I can't tell if she really wants to be here or not. And her name is German. So Auntie wasn't kidding when she said she was named after a country. Aw, well, it sorta fits her in an odd kind of way. Ha, if she said "I'm German" to a random person they might think she had just moved from…I need to stop being stupid.

"Nice to meet you guys," I say courteously. "I'm Carly, Jemma's niece, and these are my friends who are staying here for a while." Miranda scans us all and opens her mouth to say something, but Auntie makes herself known by her loud high heels clicking on the wooden floorboards as she flies down the hall to greet her friends.

"Miranda, honey! How nice it is to see you!" She gives the lady a quick hug and turns to German. "You must be German?" The girl nods.

"That's me," she confirms.

"Well the girls and I are very pleased to have you," Auntie says sweetly. "My older brother is here as well…ERIC, GET OUT HERE!" she hollers back at the kitchen. Dad appears in the archway and waves cheerfully as his greeting. Aunt Jemma shakes her head in embarrassment and my father's less than gentlemanly behavior.

"Dinner will be ready in about ten minutes," Aunt Jemma tells us. "If you'd like to wait here while Eric and I finish up, that'd be peachy keen." She doesn't wait to see if it is indeed "peachy keen." She's gone the moment she finishes saying it. Miranda and German step inside awkwardly and we all arrange ourselves in the sitting room. Elena takes her turn on the piano, but nobody sings this time. She doesn't notice the awkward atmosphere, or if she does, attempts to diffuse it by playing a pretty, whimsical sounding song. It's a relaxing song, I think, and although nobody speaks for a good ten minutes for fear of saying something idiotic that they can't take back, it's nice to just sit there and listen to the music. Frankie is the best piano player out of the three of us, and I'm the worst. I can only play a few chords here and there, or really repetitious things. Translation; I'm not very good.

Even though Elena's playing is a nice, it's a relief when Aunt Jemma comes back to announce that dinner's ready. We all hurry to the kitchen.

Despite Aunt Jemma having a gazillion bedrooms, there are not a gazillion chairs. The lasagna smells heavenly, but Carrie, Dahlia, Melanie and I end up being banished to the living room, so we don't get to hear Auntie's conversation with Miranda, which, quite honestly, I was looking forward to. But I guess it's okay.

Halfway through dinner, however, the doorbell rings, and I swear Aunt Jemma screams.

"I don't have time for this!" she shrieks. For a moment I think she's angry, but then I hear the smile in her voice. Auntie loves company; if she could house a sorority, she totally would.

The door opens, and the girls and I hear Sammy and Rachel's exhausted voices.

"You live in the center of a labyrinth!" Sammy complains loudly. We consider getting up to go greet them, but decide against it when Auntie tells them that we have food, and the sounds of their footsteps overpower the sound of Luzma cracking up. She probably loves it that they get lost.

After Sammy and Rachel spend a few minutes being introduced to German and Miranda and visiting with Luzma, Elena, Monique, and Frankie, Aunt Jemma ushers them to the other room because there aren't enough chairs.

"Hey guys," Rachel says as she walks in. Both she and Sammy drop their bags on the ground and start inhaling their lasagna.

"You hungry?" Carrie asks sarcastically. Sammy nods violently.

"We haven't eaten practically all day," Rachel says between bites.

"And this is really good," Sammy adds.

"Well, I'm glad someone likes it!" Auntie yells from the other room, laughing.

"Yep!" Sammy hollers back.

"Well, there's one more room downstairs for you guys," I tell them.

"Okay," Rachel nods. "Who were those people sitting in there? That lady and the other girl?"

"That's Miss Jemma's friend Miranda and her daughter, German," Dahlia answers. "They're just visiting."

"Ah, I see," Rachel says. "Did you guys find this place okay? We were driving in circles for hours."

"I found it just fine," Carrie says. "So did Monique, Elena, and Frankie, I think."

"We didn't," Melanie groans. "We stopped at a mall to get directions."

"And you spent a lot of unnecessary time at that mall, am I right?" Sammy laughs.

"Yes," Dahlia replies quickly. "Yes, we did."

Sammy and Rachel grinned at Melanie, who scowls.

"There was a really cool store there!" she defends herself.

"Mel, we can go shopping tomorrow if you want," I offer. Melanie's eyes light up, remembering the dress she had fallen in love with.

"Okay!" she agrees. We all laugh and finish our dinner.

Afterwards, all ten of us hang out with German a little downstairs. Turns out, she's pretty cool. She's got a tattoo on her back and everything. It's just a little tiny one on the back of her neck, but still. I could never do that. She, Luzma, and Sammy really hit is off; they have lots in common. And she also had a boyfriend who cheated on her, so she and Elena seem to enjoy complaining about the male species, despite the fact that German has a boyfriend now that she likes very much. I would be complaining too, except my tragic love story is a little different.

The more and more I think about it, lots happened sophomore year. It wasn't that everything was boring, it's just that nothing was…I don't know, good? Yeah, good.

I dated a guy last year. His name was Alex. He asked me out to the winter formal, and I went, and I was excited because I'd never had a date before. Or a first kiss. And I'd never really talked to him before, but I figured I'd give him a chance. I dressed up all nice, in a pretty black and white dress and high heels, and I got Melanie to do my makeup and everything. It was a big deal. He'd just gotten his license, so he actually picked me up in an actual car and drove us there, but not before telling me that I'd better change my shoes if I didn't want to get raped. He then proceeded to insult my favorite song at the dance and tell me my jokes were stupid. I tried to be nice, but then he pulled the whole "I'm so glad you're my girlfriend," thing, and I was stuck. He followed me everywhere, and it got really creepy. Finally, I got Sammy to go tell him off for me. And she did, and he slapped me, and I got so mad I slapped him back.

Then I got suspended for two days.

But it's over now, I guess. No more guys for me for a while, though.

German glances up at the clock above the TV.

"I've gotta get my mom and get going," she says. "We've got to get up early tomorrow."

"Okay. It was nice meeting you!" Monique says, grinning widely. German waves goodbye and goes upstairs to get her mom. We don't follow her; it's almost midnight and we're tired. We get changed into our pajamas and head off to our respective rooms, or to the couch, in my case. Dahlia helps me pull it out and set it up, and then she goes to her room.

I've never fallen asleep easier.

The next week goes by quickly. We spend a lot of time at the mall, and Melanie introduces me to William Shakespeare, AKA Leigh. He's nice, but very quiet. He won't sell Melanie her dress, because the "designer" doesn't want to make another one. Monique is 98% sure that Leigh himself is the designer. I'm 100% sure she's right.

Dahlia spends a lot of time with Ken, and she's always really happy when she leaves him, and then she's sad for the next hour. Sometimes, when German's around, she'll talk to her. Apparently German is some magical counselor. When German's not around, she'll talk to Lena. Then she's happy again.

Luzma and this guy named Dake have been hanging out a lot too, but he actually talks to the rest of us. He doesn't have much of a filter when it comes to speaking, but his intentions are good. Luzma tells us she thinks he's cute, but that whatever mini-relationship they have isn't going to last. She hasn't let him kiss her again, although from what I can tell, he's tried several times.

By the end of the week, I don't want to go back. I just keep thinking about Alex and how much I hate that old school, and I refuse to go back. I absolutely refuse. I've been spending the last three days trying to figure out what to do, and I can only think of one thing. I'm afraid about what it might mean, what it _would _mean, but I just…I can't go back to that school. And the longer I stay here, the more and more I realize that. I love my friends. I love them more than anything in the entire world. But I need to start focusing on my life, my future.

I've asked Aunt Jemma if I can move in with her and go to Sweet Amoris, the local high school. Dad was a little upset, but I explained my reasoning, and he's going to come up on the weekends. At least I have a friend now, because German goes to Sweet Amoris. Maybe she'll introduce me to her boyfriend, Tim. He seems like he might be pretty cool.

When I tell the girls about my plans, they flip out.

"Car!" Frankie screams in horror. "What do you mean you're not coming back!"

"You're staying here, too?" Dahlia says, tears forming in her eyes. "But Ken is…is…"

"Carly, c'mon, be realistic," Rachel begs. "You can't just…"

"I can, actually," I tell her sheepishly. "I already got the okay from Dad and Aunt Jemma."

"We're gonna miss you, Car," Monique says quietly. "But why?" I explained why, and they all nodded.

"I guess it would be nice for a change…" Carrie said wistfully. "I guess I would do the same thing in your shoes." Suddenly, Dahlia sits up straight.

"Would Miss Jemma let me stay, too?" she asks me.

"I don't know, why?"

"Because I need to go to school here," she says. She glances over at Elena for approval.

"Dahlia…" she begins, "I don't know if that's a good enough reason…"

"It is," Dahlia says firmly. "It's definitely a good enough reason." I shrug, not sure what her reason it, but not really caring. Chances are, it won't work out.

"I'll ask Aunt Jemma if you want," I say. "Couldn't hurt."

"Could you, uh, maybe as her for me too?" Rachel asks. "I don't wanna go back there, either." Wow, okay. Where did that come from?

"Um, yeah, I guess so," I reply. "I can't promise anything for either of you, but I can ask." It might actually be kinda fun to have them live here with me, even if it is a little odd.

"Can I stay too?" Melanie voices, surprising all of us. "I really…I can't live without that dress."

Suddenly, every single girl in the room is asking to stay here for various reasons. Eventually, it comes down to Carrie asking so that she won't have to go back alone. My grin grows wider and wider at the idea of having all of my friends living here. This week has been great. School might actually be fun! We'd get to do everything together. And it's a small school, so we'd be in mostly the same classes.

"Yes," I say enthusiastically. "Yes, I'll ask her for you all." Everyone cheers happily, and I call Aunt Jemma downstairs. She looks at our smiling faces, confused.

"What's going on, fairies?" she asks nervously. "Did you put a snake in my bed or something?"

"No. But you know how I'm going to be living here next year?" I ask. She nods. "Well, I was wondering if my friends could live here too?" Aunt Jemma's face completely lights up, her magenta color contacts scaring me a little.

"That would be fabulous!" she exclaims, clapping her hands together. "Of course, you girls would have to ask your parents, but it's fine with me!" More cheering ensues, as well as a big group hug. This is going to be amazing.

**Hope you liked it! Tell me what you thought :)**

**Here's a link to the song Frankie and Carly were singing. (It's not the original version, so I'd advise listening to it even if you know the song). I envisioned the brunette as Carly and Frankie as the other girl. Once again, remove the spaces in the link :)**

**www. youtube watch?v= Wn-_MyJV37E**

**And this is Melanie's dream dress, for those of you who were wondering:**

**productshots0. modcloth productshots/0106/3519/ 9500d0600cbeb93f87666509413d 97e7. jpg? 1334179954**

**If that doesn't work, and it might not because my links don't seem to be working, if you really want to see it just google 'casual blue dress' and it's the 9th result on my computer (the dark blue with the capped sleeves and the bow around the waist).**

**So, the girls will probably be drawing and singing a lot and obsessing over clothes. Do you want me to post links to things they "sing" and "draw" and wear so you can see, or do you guys not care? Tell me what you thought of the chapter!**

**Luv yah, **

**Ava**


	4. Chapter 4

**Yay! The girls are going to school now! Time to meet Nathaniel and Castiel!**

**Hope you like!**

_Rachel Biersack_

I'm so nervous for school. Surprisingly, everyone's parents said that they could stay, which is great, and we've all been having a great time getting ready for our junior year, picking electives and whatnot. I'm taking choir with Carly and Frankie, and I'm really excited. Frankie's also planning on joining the drama club at school, since she wants to be an actress and all that. I'm not sure what musical they're planning on doing this year, but whatever it is, it might be fun. If I can get over my stage fright, maybe I'll give it a try too. But I don't know…my confidence was pretty much crushed when…_that _happened last year.

The bus comes at 8:30, and school starts at nine. Miss Jemma told us that we'd still have some registration things to do, but that we shouldn't worry because according to German, the school gives us a lot of free time, especially in the morning. That'll be nice, but I'm a little worried about classes. I hope that when we actually do buckle down for school, everyone will take things seriously.

"You guys ready?" I ask the girls. I was the first one up because I'm so nervous. They all nod.

"This is gonna be so fun!" Monique squeals happily.

"It's school, though," Carrie complains, hoisting her backpack over her shoulder. "It'll be fun for about a day and then it'll suck."

"German said they have a great basketball program, though," Sammy reminds her. "They've got these kids who come over all the time to play and everything."

"Yeah, I am looking forward to that, I guess," Carrie admits.

"I can't wait to go to drama class!" Frankie says in a sing-song voice, twirling around.

"I'm just glad I can still go to school with Ken," Dahlia sighs. "I was so worried." Apparently, Ken is moving to Sweet Amoris as well, Dahlia's 'boyfriend.'

"Hey, Lena, when are cheerleading tryouts?" Carly asks Elena from across the table.

"Next week," Elena says happily. "You thinking about trying out, Car?"

"Yeah, uh, no," Carly replies, flipping her hair over her shoulder. "You know I suck at that stuff."

"Eh, you might be okay if you actually tried."

"I don't think so."

"Yes you would!"

"No, I'm pretty sure I wouldn-"

"Time to go, fairies!" Miss Jemma calls, looking down from the balcony that overlooks most of the first floor. "The bus is outside!"

"'Kay, thanks Miss Jemma!" Luzma calls up the stairs. We bolt outside to catch the bus.

The driver is a middle aged woman with a steely glare and graying brown hair. She stares at us all in confusion, probably wondering why ten girls who look nothing alike are boarding her bus from the exact same house. We all smile at her sweetly and move on.

I sit next to a girl I don't know with red hair and a purple shirt because all the other spots are full. She turns to me, a smile already on her face.

"Hi," she says, holding out her hand. "My name's Iris. Are you new?"

"Yeah," I say, shaking her hand. "My name's Rachel."

"That's quite the household you've got there," Iris comments, her grin never leaving her face. "Are you all adopted or something? That Jemma lady has lived there forever and as far as I know she's never married or anything…she's pretty cool, though." Goodness, this girl talks a lot.

"No, we're all just friends," I tell her. "Carly, the girl over there…" I point to Carly, who's looking really uncomfortable next to a scowling boy with dyed red hair, "she's Jemma's niece, and we all decided we really hated our old school, and she decided to let us live with her."

"All of you?" Iris gapes, openmouthed.

"Yeah, I don't know what she was thinking," I admit. "But it's great. Every night is like a giant sleepover, you know?"

"Oh, that does sound fun," Iris agrees. "My friend Melody is planning on having a sleepover for her birthday in like, two months or something. Maybe she'd let you guys come!"

"Oh, um, maybe," I answered, not knowing what to think. I don't really want to commit to anything without knowing who this Melody is, exactly. That's a little…weird.

"Do you like Sweet Amoris?" I ask Iris. She grins again and nods.

"I really like it. The people are great. Your friend over there got landed with Castiel, though, hope he's not torturing her; he can be a tad scary if you don't know him…" Iris giggles and looks back at Carly. The guy next to her must be this Castiel character. Carly is intently studying her hands while Castiel stares her down and sizes her up.

"Oh my goodness," I say without thinking, memories flashing back. "He is scary." Iris cracks up as we pull into the school.

"He's really not. Just don't get on his bad side." I think I'll just avoid him altogether, but I don't tell Iris this.

Oh! I need to figure out what the heck to do once I get inside.

"Hey, Iris, where would I go about finishing registration?" I ask her.

"Umm, you should probably go see the principal in the office," Iris suggests. "She'll probably send you to Nathaniel, but you should definitely check in with her first."

"Okay. Who's Nathaniel?"

"He's the student body president. He's really nice."

"Nothing like Castiel, I presume?" Iris laughs again.

"Castiel is _not_ that bad!" she insists. "But no. They're pretty much polar opposites."

"That is wonderful."

"For you, I guess it is."

The school itself is tiny. There's a nice little courtyard that leads inside, which is nice because you can see the flowers in the garden to the right, and it looks like the gym is its own building, which is interesting. As we walk inside, it seems that the school only has one hallway, but it's two floors. The main office is right inside the door and to the left. I wave goodbye to Iris and gesture towards the girls to follow me.

The principal is a plump, gray-haired lady with a pink coat and glasses. She smiles almost too sweetly at us as we walk in.

"Hello girls!" she says. "Welcome to Sweet Amoris!"

"Glad to be here," Monique replies politely. "It's a beautiful school you have."

"Why thank you, dear," the principal says. "My name is Mrs. Dillon. I understand you girls still need to finalize your registration?"

"Yes, I was told to come here," I say quickly.

"Well, this is the perfect time to get everything done. Everyone has a free period in the mornings for club meetings and other productive activities. Finalizing your registration is definitely productive." Mrs. Dillon scrambles around behind her desk, opening and closing file cabinets looking for something. When she looks back up at us, the color has drained from her already pale face.

"Oh, I'm sorry dears, I don't have your forms."

"Wait, what?" Frankie asks. "We're not signed up?"

"Oh, don't worry, you're all signed up," Mrs. Dillion clarifies, waving her hands anxiously. "I must have given the forms to Nathaniel, though. I can never keep track of those things. Mr. Nathaniel is the student body president; he'll be right across the hall. Why don't you go check in with him and see if he has your things." Ah, the famous Nathaniel. Iris was right.

"Okay." I look around at the nine other girls crowding the office. "Hey, guys, why don't you go hang out in the courtyard and kinda survey the area, alright? I'll go get our forms and we can fill them out there."

"Good idea," Dahlia says. "I've got to find Ken."

"I've gotta go hide from that guy…" Carly mumbles. Elena rolls her eyes.

"C'mon, Car. He was kinda cute."

"He was not! He was terrifying! Did you see the way he was staring at me?"

"Ladies!" the principal calls. "You've got forty five minutes, not all day!"

"Oh, okay, we'd better get going then," Melanie says. She holds the door open and we file out.

"I'll be right back, you guys," I tell them. "Hey, Sammy, come with me." Sammy shoots me a confused look, but follows me anyway. I don't want to go talk to some random guy all by myself. Not after…_shut up, Rachel._

I make Sammy open the door, but only after she makes me promise to do all the talking. I'm not sure how I feel about that, but I am not opening the door myself.

Sammy knocks and peeks in. I look over her shoulder. A boy is sitting alone at a desk, staring down at a pile of papers, scribbling with a fountain pen. He's dressed formally for school, in my opinion, in a white dress shirt, khakis, and a tie. His hair is golden, and flops down in his face. When he looks up, I see that his eyes are golden too.

"Hi, can I help you?" he asks, standing and brushing nonexistent wrinkles out of his shirt. Sammy pushes me forward, silently reminding me of my promise to talk. I'm beginning to wish I'd chosen the door.

"Uh, hi," I say shyly. "I'm Rachel, and this is Sammy...are you Nathaniel, by any chance? The, uh, president?" The boy smiles in response.

"Yes, that's me."

"Oh, great," I sigh in relief. "My friends and I are all new here, and the principal told us we needed to fill out our final registration forms, but she said she gave them to you…" Nathaniel's brow furrows in confusion, and my heart sinks. "You don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"

"No, I'm sorry," he apologizes, shaking his head. "I would've remembered getting two registration forms."

"Oh, yeah," I laugh nervously. "Then I guess you definitely would've remembered getting ten, huh?" Now the poor guy looks even more confused. He has no idea what's going on.

"_Ten?"_

"Yeah…Sammy and I might have eight friends chilling outside waiting for us. And when I orginally said 'friends,' the extra S wasn't an accident. I don't have imaginary friends…anymore." Whereas someone like Luzma or Dahlia or Frankie would've at least smiled, Nathaniel just frowns. "C'mon! It was funny!" I insist. Nathaniel simply gives me a strange look and shakes his head.

"I would've remembered ten forms, definitely," he says, reverting to the original topic. "I'll look around. But you guys might want to get your ID pictures taken while we're on our free period."

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Nathaniel."

"Yeah, thanks Nate!" Sammy calls, finally saying something. Nathaniel puts his hand on his forehead and looks down, his face quickly turning red.

"Please don't call me that…" he requests. Sammy mutters an apology, but he doesn't hear it.

"She didn't mean anything by it," I say. "We'll be back later to get the forms."

"Okay, see you later." Sammy and I turn to leave as Nathaniel begins to search through filing cabinets.

"See? Was that so hard?" Sammy taunts me as we leave the student council room. "He was perfectly friendly!"

"I feel so bad," I groan. "Now he has to find all our papers."

"So? He obviously loves school. Why else would he want to be president?"

"Maybe he wants to get into a good college?" I suggest.

"Or maybe he actually _likes _to file things," Sammy counters. "You never can tell."

We walk outside and see Carly and Elena and Carrie talking to the boy with the red hair, Castiel. He catches us staring and sizes us up just like he did Carly on the bus. Oh, no…

"Hey, Sammy, I'm gonna go to the bathroom, 'kay? I'll catch up with you guys." Sammy gives me another puzzled look and shrugs.

"Okay. We won't wait up."

"Great, thanks." I can feel Castiel's eyes on me as I run back inside. Breathing hard, I duck into the girls' bathroom and lock myself inside a stall.

Oh, gosh. What was I thinking when I decided to move here? I should've known I couldn't handle new people, new guys…

_Elena Mercer_

As Sammy and Rachel leave to get the forms from Nathaniel, the rest of the girls and I head out to the courtyard. The moment we step outside though, Carly squeals and tries to run back inside.

"Wait, hang on!" Carrie says, grabbing her arm. "What's wrong?"

"That guy over there! He scares me!"

"Oh, that guy with the leather jacket?" I ask.

"Yes! The guy I was talking about just like, thirty seconds ago!"

"Puh-lease," I sigh. He's not that scary. A little mysterious, yeah, but not scary. Frankie wraps her arm around Carly's shoulder condescendingly.

"C'mon, honey," she coos. "Let's go talk to the creepy guy, 'kay?"

"You guys have fun," Dahlia says, laughing at Carly's expression. "I'm gonna go find Ken."

"I'll come with you," Luzma volunteers. Melanie and Monique leave too, leaving me with just Carly, Frankie, and Carrie. I don't know why I'm feeling so gutsy today; usually I would run and hide too.

"Okay," I say as everyone leaves. "You ready?"

"No!" Carly shrieks, sneaking a glance at the boy. "You can't make me!"

"Ah, Carly, you're so cute. Yes I can," I say sweetly, struggling to hide a laugh. "C'mon."

"Is something wrong?" a deep voice asks from behind. We slowly turn around to see the speaker. As predicted, it's the boy. Frankie laughs as Carly shrieks and hides behind Carrie. I must be in a good mood today, because I just grin.

"No, nothing's wrong," I tell the boy. "My friends and I are just getting to know the area a little. We're new here, you see."

"Do I look like I care?" His snide remark shocks me, and for a moment I'm taken aback. But then I remember: confidence. Confidence is key.

"If you didn't care, then why are you talking to us?" I respond, raising my eyebrows in question. He rewards my witty comment with a smirk.

"Well, at least _you_ seem to be halfway tolerable," he snorts. Peeking around Carrie's shoulder, he says, "But this little mouse has got a long way to go." Carly's face turns beet red as she stands up.

"I'm shy," she stammers.

"Don't lie to me. You're scared." Oh, no. Now he's done it.

"I am not!"

"You were hiding."

"Well…yeah! I've got a…I've…I've got a pimple on my nose!" It's no secret that Carly's always had perfect skin. I have too, but who's keeping track? The boy rolls his eyes and looks back at me.

"I'm Castiel," he says, folding his arms to dissuade any attempts at a handshake.

"Elena," I reply, nodding my head. "And this is Frankie and Carrie. And you already know Carly."

"Did I ask for your names?"

"No, you did not. But I decided to tell you anyways."

"I noticed." My eyes lock with his stormy gray ones for a split second, and he smirks again. Clearly he's not one to start a conversation, and I don't have anything else to say, so we just stand there for a few minutes and make small talk. Suddenly, he looks up and fixes his eyes on something in the distance. I turn around to see Sammy and Rachel standing right outside the door. And then Rachel promptly runs back inside. Sammy looks like she struggles with herself for a few moments, trying to decide whether or not to follow her, but eventually sides against it. Dahlia, Melanie, Monique, and Luzma run up to her with Ken in tow. I guess they too want to approach the mysterious Castiel in a group.

"Sammy, did you get the forms?" Monique asks as they walk up to us. Sammy shakes her head in dismay.

"No, Nathaniel said he never got them. He's going to look for them, but we have to get our pictures taken for our ID's."

"Where do we do that?" Melanie asks.

"There a little dollar shop right down the block. They do pictures," Castiel says, surprising the girls who hadn't already spoken to him. "You need ten bucks, though."

"We should be able to work something out," Dahlia says. Ken hands her a ten dollar bill, and Dahlia takes it silently, color rising in her cheeks.

"Thanks," she murmurs. Castiel rolls his eyes again.

"Well, get outta here," he says in an annoyed tone. "That other friend of yours must be scared of me, too."

"Well, if you hadn't been staring at me the entire bus ride and if you didn't have a skull on your shirt, maybe you wouldn't have this problem!" Carly informs him, irritated. Castiel growls and looks like he's trying to decide which of his favorite vocabulary words to use when I sigh, grab her arm, and pull her away.

"C'mon, guys, we've gotta find Rachel," I mutter. "Sammy, do you know where she went?" Sammy shakes her head no.

"She just kinda freaked out on me, and then, poof, no more Rachel," she says.

"Why'd she freak out?" Monique asks.

"I don't know," Rachel shrugs.

"I'll check on her," I say. "Or I'll hunt down German. But you guys go ahead, we'll catch up. It'll take a few minutes for you guys anyways." They all nod and take off while I go inside to find Rachel.

Ten minutes later, I still haven't found her. She wasn't in the girls' bathroom like I thought she'd be. She must've gone somewhere else. Surely she wouldn't have gone back to the student council room….? But I guess you never know, so I decide to go and check. A blonde boy who I presume is Nathaniel is sifting through a bunch of file cabinets.

"Hi," I say, letting him know I'm here. He turns around, confused.

"If you're another one of those new girls, I'm still looking for the forms," he sighs.

"Okay, but that's not why I'm here. My friend, Rachel, seems to have gone missing. Have you seen her by any chance?"

"Brunette girl?" he questions. I nod. "She was in here about fifteen minutes ago," he says. "She asked if there was somewhere she could go for quiet time. I pointed her towards the roof. Technically we're not supposed to go up there, but she seemed pretty upset."

"Oh, okay. How do I get there?"

"All the way down the hall and up the stairs."

"Great. Thanks!" I dash out of the room, desperate to make it to the roof before Rachel leaves.

However, I'm stopped in my tracks by Castiel.

"Still suffering that idiot president?" he chuckles. I nod quickly, not wanting to start up a conversation, and run past him. Come on, Rachel…please be there.

**So I meant to get farther in that chapter, but I haven't updated in a few days because this is an insane week for me, so I figured I'd just go ahead.**

**Some housekeeping things: One, go to my profile and vote on the poll for the musical Sweet Amoris should perform. I figure our girls are mostly all musical, so there should be a musical. I picked out 20 random ones, and you can vote for up to five. **

**Two, I decided to make a blog for this story since links to pictures don't seem to be working, and a lot of people wanted another way to keep track of the characters. I have taken the liberty of finding pictures I think look like your Candy if you didn't already give me one, but if you have one you would rather I use, please go ahead and tell me. I've also posted Melanie's dress and Frankie and Carly's song. Here's the link to the blog:**

**newbeginningsnewlovemcl. blogspot. com **

**I honestly don't care if you comment on it or whatever, it's just there as a reference if you ever need it :) **

**Okay, I'm done talking. Hopefully the next chapter will be better...but tell me what you thought!**

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hola! I'm glad you guys seemed to like the last chapter :) And I know a lot of you are eager for the rest of the guys to come in, but some people will have to wait a few more chapters. Armin and Alexy come in last. Dake will come back at some point, but I'm not exactly sure when. There are definitely some girls getting a lot of attention right now but it'll all even out. I'm sorta kinda trying to follow the episodes a little (obviously not too closely), but he'll be back before the orienteering race. Carly's got to wait too, so don't despair :)**

**Enjoy!**

_Carly Neilson_

Before long, Elena comes through the door with Rachel in tow. And Rachel looks absolutely fine. Maybe her breakfast didn't agree with her or something.

Monique smiles widely at the camera while the clerk, a friendly old man named Louis, snaps her picture. She won't admit it, but I swear, she loves to be on camera. Dahlia's picture is cute, Luzma kind of half-smiles at the camera, but her picture turns out, and Melanie has a hard time keeping from laughing. It takes me a second to figure out why, and then I realize that Frankie was making funny faces behind my back. Carrie and Sammy are very successful in looking like Carrie and Sammy on camera.

I, for one, hate being on camera. Hate it. My eyes are always half-closed. Every. Single. Time.

"Can I retake it if it looks awful?" I ask Louis hopefully.

"Ah, yes, for ten more dollars," Louis answers with a smile. I scowl at him and stomp over to the stool. Frankie blows up her cheeks and makes a face behind Elena's back, and I smile involuntarily. Louis clicks the camera, and I blink at the light. Noooo…..

"Were my eyes closed?" I ask eagerly, jumping up to look over Louis's shoulder.

"No, Miss," he says, handing me my printed ID. And lo and behold, they aren't! I actually look halfway okay! Since it's the first day of school, I actually spent some time on my appearance today. Usually I just do the whole mascara and lip gloss gig, but today I'm wearing a pretty sleeveless royal blue and pink floral dress with a sweetheart neckline and latticework on the front, paired with these really adorable boots Melanie lent me. I actually wore blush and eyeliner today, with a touch of pink eye shadow in the outer corners of my eyes. According to Monique, it makes them light up. She's probably just being nice, but my eyes do look pretty in this picture. Maybe it's because they aren't closed.

Rachel goes next, and smiles without any signs of struggle. And her picture is lovely, as are all pictures of Rachel. It's not fair. Elena goes next, and is done in a second. Louis holds out his hand, waiting for his hundred. It's amazing how quickly ten dollars each can add up. Thank goodness Ken gave Dahlia that extra ten, because otherwise we wouldn't have had enough.

"Ready to go?" Monique asks, slinging her backpack over her shoulder. "We've got about twenty minutes until classes and that guy still has to find our forms."

"Oh, yeah, Nathaniel," Rachel says, uttering her first words since entering the store. "He's probably found them by now. He's really nice."

"Yeah, he's not bad," Sammy says. "He doesn't know how to laugh, though."

"I'm sure he does. Maybe he was just stressed out," Rachel insists.

"Whatever, Rachel," Carrie laughs, rolling her eyes. "Let's just get outta here."

"Okay."

We get back to school and make a beeline to the student council room. The boy called Nathaniel is sitting at a desk with a brunette girl wearing a blue shirt, and they both look up when we enter. Their eyes widen at the sight of ten new girls, but Nathaniel seems to recognize Sammy and Rachel.

"I finally found your forms," he says. "The principal had them buried in a file cabinet." He takes a stack of papers from the edge of his desk and hands them to Rachel. "Just fill those out and then give them to the principal. You're welcome to work in here if you'd like."

"Oh, okay, great," Sammy says, pulling out a chair and taking a pen from her bag.

"Who's your friend?" Rachel asks as the rest of us sit down.

"I'm Melody," the brunette says. "I come in here sometimes; I'm a delegate for my class."

"What grade are you in?" Rachel inquires.

"Nathaniel and I are both juniors."

"Oh! We are too! I wonder if we'll all have classes together." Rachel says. Nathaniel grins.

"It isn't a very big school. The grades tend to have mostly the same classes, and electives are usually combined."

"That makes sense. Where do we get our schedules?"

"The principal will give them to you as soon as you fill out those forms."

"That's code for stop flirting and get started," Monique stage whispers. Nathaniel turns beet red, Melanie smiles, and Rachel gasps.

"I wasn't…I would never…Monique!" she complains. Monique giggles and tells her she was only kidding, but apparently it wasn't a joke to Rachel. She sits as far away from Moni as she can and begins to fill out her form.

That's when I notice the fine print at the bottom of the page.

"Um, Mr. Nathaniel?" I ask, turning around. "What's this I see about us needing a fifteen dollar registration fee?"

"Everyone has to pay it. If you want to know what it's for, I'd suggest asking the principal. And you don't need to call me Mr. We're in the same grade."

"Well, you just seem to be in a position of authority…"

"Just fill out the forms, please."

"But-"

"Please? I'm sorry, I don't mean to seem rude, but I'm really busy."

"The funds the school earns go towards special events," Melody explains kindly. "I was required to pay it when I started going here freshman year. All the students pay it every year. It's not really a big deal."

"It is when you've just spent a hundred dollars on pictures and are now totally broke!" Melody smiles sympathetically.

"I'm sorry. I guess it is rather large for a household of ten."

"You think?"

"Feel free to take it up with the principal. I'm sorry, but I really can't help you." Melody seems genuinely sorry, but I guess she is right that there's nothing she can do. She doesn't run the school. Elena suggests I call Aunt Jemma and ask her what to do, but I don't want to bother her. I manage to bribe Frankie in sheet music to ask the principal if there's a way around it.

There's not. But we can turn it in tomorrow morning, first thing.

We've only got ten minutes until classes start. Carrie volunteers to collect the forms and bring them to the principal. She returns thirty seconds later with a request for a paperclip, which Melody supplies. She returns with our schedules. Hmm. Looks like we don't all have the same classes. And I'm lucky enough to have gym class with Carrie. Only Carrie. The single most athletic girl in the entire world. And me, the girl who can't even run without tripping. Yippee.

The bell rings for class, and Carrie and I head out to the gym. We're stopped by a trio of girls; one an Asian girl with too much lipstick, one a brunette with her hair in a carefully orchestrated high ponytail, and a bleach blonde girl with a smug look on her face and a designer bag in her hands.

"Who are you?" the blonde girl asks. Her tone is sharp and judgmental.

"I'm Carrie and this is Carly," Carrie introduces us. I wave hello and start to leave when she addresses us again.

"Are you guys new?" the girl asks. Carrie and I nod. "What were you doing in the student council room?"

"Finalizing our registration. Nathaniel and Melody were helping-"

"Stay away from Nathaniel," she snaps, cutting me off.

"Yeah, listen to Amber! Stay away from him!" the brunette chimes in. Airhead: check.

"Shut up, Charlotte," Amber grumbles, stomping her foot. "Now, you two, go away." Amber flips her hair behind her shoulder and shoves Carrie and me aside, her little friends following behind her like loyal sheepdogs.

"Well, she's not very nice," I observe. Carrie bonks the back of my head and laughs.

"Thank you. I hadn't noticed." I laugh at my own stupidity and walk towards the gym.

There are a few kids in here. There's a pretty girl with long, white blond hair streaked with white, a black kid dunking basketballs, German, that blonde girl we were talking to, Amber, I think, and…Castiel. Aren't I lucky? There are a few other anonymous students, but no one that I notice really. Carrie watches the guy playing basketball with a dreamy look in her eyes before I tug on her ponytail and bring her back to reality.

The teacher is a totally ripped blonde guy who insists on us calling him by his first name: Boris. He acts like a third grader and keeps calling the girls in class "little ladies." It's a little condescending, but it's also funny. Or, at least Carrie says so. The blonde girl seems to think otherwise, because she keeps crossing her arms and scowling.

"I hate it when he belittles us," she says, not really speaking to anyone. "It's so annoying."

"Um, sorry, who are you?" Carrie asks.

"Oh, I'm sorry. My name's Rosalya." The girl smiles and flips her long hair behind her shoulders. "And you are…?"

"Carrie Knight," Carrie introduces herself. "This is Carly. We're new."

"Oh, well, welcome to Sweet Amoris!" Rosalya says. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to call my boyfriend before Boris makes us run. I forgot to tell him something."

"Hey, friends!" German says, running up to us. "How you liking school so far?"

"I feel like it's trying to open its own bank," I grumble. German laughs.

"Yeah. That's why my boyfriend doesn't go here."

"Oh, Tim? He doesn't go here?" German has described her boyfriend Timothy many times to us, but we haven't ever gotten a chance to meet him yet.

"Nah, he's homeschooled. His family doesn't want to pay like a million bucks per year and he doesn't want to make them. I wish he did go here though. It'd make things a lot more fun."

"Maybe we could meet him sometime?" Carrie asks. German grins.

"Absolutely. He'd love that; I've told him about you guys."

"Cool." Carrie lets her eyes wander around the gym again, and they land on the boy playing basketball. He slam dunks another ball in the net, and she whistles. "He's amazing," she comments. "Do you know who he is?"

"Yeah, that's Dajan. He's kind of a superstar in the sports department."

"No wonder," Carrie laughs as Dajan makes another basket. Oh, goodness. Carrie always goes for the sporty guys. And they're always superficial jocks who don't care about anything except a ball. And cheerleaders. Always the cheerleaders. Lena would say otherwise, but she knows it's true.

"So, we're in the same class, now, are we, little mouse?" Castiel approaches us with a smirk, and I shy away.

"C'mon, lay off," Carrie laughs. "I know she's fun to scare, but we don't want her to faint on us."

"Hmm. I don't know. That might be kind of funny." I cross my arms defiantly and scowl at him.

"Would not!" I protest.

"Go ahead, Cas, give it your best shot," German suggests, unsuccessful in hiding her smile. Oh, so she wants me to die, too? Castiel narrows his eyes at me, deep in thought. I retreat behind Carrie, who can't seem to stop laughing. Finally, Castiel just shakes his head and reaches around Carrie to mess up my hair.

"Hey!"

"Oh, suck it up, princess," Castiel grumbles. I stick my tongue out at him like what Frankie does, and he rolls his eyes and walks away. It seems I annoy him. Good. He can stay away from me.

Mr. Boris blows his whistle and gives us the basic speech. We need to turn in ten dollars for our gym uniforms, and will be expected to bring them every class. Girls cannot wear necklaces and dangly earrings, and no, Amber, high heels are not adequate running shoes. Boris then tells us that we can spend the rest of class doing whatever we want, as long as we're moving. Since I can't do anything sportsy without looking like a moron, I elect to walk around in circles with German. Carrie's gone to play basketball with, you guessed it, Mr. Dajan.

_Carrie Knight_

German and Carly walk around the perimeter of the gym absentmindedly while I stand and stare at the guys playing basketball. I want to play, but they probably wouldn't let a girl in. That one guy, Dajan, is playing by himself. He never misses. I'll bet anything that he's by himself because the other guys are too scared to take him on.

But I really want to play…

Come on, Carrie, seriously. You can totally do this. It's not like he's the president or anything. He's a guy. A guy the exact same age as you. Who also happens to be extremely talented….no. No, this is crazy. And yet, before I know it, I'm running up to him.

"Hey! Dajan, right? Mind if I shoot a few?" Dajan pauses and looks at me in surprise, but he bounces the ball on the ground towards me and I catch it.

"Sure. Do I know you?"

"No," I say, grinning. I don't offer my name. Instead, I dribble the ball a few times, turning in a circle around myself before lifting it above my head and shooting it into the basket. Thank goodness I make the shot. That could have been really embarrassing.

"Hey, not bad," Dajan comments, catching the rebound and tossing it at me again. "I didn't catch your name, though."

"I didn't give it," I reply, taking another shot. Dajan catches the ball again, but doesn't throw it to me. He holds it under his arm and walks forward, his hazel eyes gleaming.

"Well, that's not really fair," he complains, tossing the ball up in the air. "You know _my_ name."

"German told me," I tell him. "She said you were a superstar."

"German?" Dajan looks confused for a minute, but his eyes finally land on German and Carly, still circling the gym. "Oh! Yeah, I know her. She said I'm a superstar?"

"Well, yeah, as in you're really good at basketball," I clarify.

"Oh, okay." He seems a little uncomfortable with the fact that we were talking about him, so I change the subject.

"Wanna play a few rounds of Horse? Ten bucks to the winner?" I probably shouldn't be betting my money away since it sounds like I'm gonna need every penny to be able to go to school here, but it's just one game. Dajan grins.

"You're on." Since he already has the ball, Dajan takes the first shot. He makes it. I catch the rebound and attempt the exact same shot he did. I make it, too.

By the time Boris blows the whistle to get ready to leave, there's no winner.

"Hey, good game….?" he pauses, not knowing what to call me.

"Carrie," I tell him. I figure he's earned it. "My name's Carrie."

"Well, _Carrie,_ you're a pretty good shot. Maybe we could try a little one on one sometime?" I can't help but smile.

"Yeah. Yeah, that'd be fun."

"Cool. See yah around." Dajan tosses the basketball into the wire basket with all the others, and I rejoin Carly and German.

"Have fun walking?" I ask. German laughs when Carly nods enthusiastically.

"This was, undoubtedly, the single best gym class I've ever had," she states. "I didn't have to do anything." Carly hates gym class. Volleyball actually makes her cry. "But I've got English next, what about you?" I take a glance at my schedule.

"Chemistry," I tell her, "in room 213. Where the heck is that?"

"Oh, I'm in that class," German pipes up. "I can show you."

"Great, thanks." The bell rings, and the students begin filing out of the gym.

"Don't forget your money next class, kiddos!" Boris shouts in place of a goodbye. Ugh. Carly's gonna have a fit. It's like a thousand dollars for us to come to stupid school. Oh, well.

The rest of the day flies by without any problems. I know at least one person in each of my classes, and Dajan is in my psychology class, surprisingly. The English teacher, Mr. Faraize, is a little awkward, but seems nice enough. The rest of the teachers made little to no impression on me.

By lunch time, everyone has met Amber, Charlotte, and Li. And she's bullied every single one of us. Well, at least we know to stay away from him. Melanie talks about a guy in one of her classes, Lysander, she says, who dresses a lot like her friend Leigh from the mall. Everyone has seen him, but no one has talked to him yet. He seems very mysterious. Elena talks about cheer tryouts. Frankie obsesses over the musical, which is apparently going to be Beauty and the Beast. That should be fun for her. Carly tells us that Aunt Jemma has always done the costumes for the musicals, and that Frankie won't get a moment's peace if she is cast as Belle. But Frankie doesn't care. I can't say I expected her too.

I tell the girls I'm thinking about trying out for the basketball team, if there is one. German says that there is, but it's not very good so I should probably just stick to being Dajan's girlfriend. I really resent that statement. I am totally not his girlfriend. If you want to read into it a lot, you might be able to say that he had asked me on a date when he asked to play sometime, but it was just a friendly invitation.

Ken sits with us as well, and he and Dahlia share about a gazillion packages of chocolate chip cookies. He says something about that Amber girl stealing all his money, and Dahlia insists that Rachel have a talk with Nathaniel or Melody about her. Most of us haven't actually talked to him, Sammy can't stand him, and he can't stand Carly, but it seems like he and Rachel actually get along.

When we go home, it really does seem like a giant sleepover. And it's going to be like this all year.

And Miss Jemma insisted that she cover every penny we need for school.

_Sammy Dark_

Man, this school is weird. A big free period all morning? Doing next to nothing in classes? I almost want to burst into song. And I don't sing.

For some reason, the principal is waiting for us when we walk in.

"Hello, ladies!" she says, a fake smile plastered on her face. "Do you have your registration fees?" Dahlia was put in charge of the money, and she forks over all $150 of it. Carrie has the money for gym uniforms. I'm not too excited about that; I've heard they're pink. For the girls, at least.

"Is that all we owe you?" Dahlia asks as the principal counts the money.

"Yes, I believe so," she says. "However, I'm going to have to ask you guys to join a club."

"A club?"

"Yes. The free period in the morning is not for doing absolutely nothing, you know."

"Of course it's not," I say, brushing Dahlia aside. "What are our options?" The principal takes a list of clubs from the pocket of her pink coat.

"Here at Sweet Amoris, we have a wide variety of clubs to choose from," she says. She sounds like a commercial. "But I'd suggest either joining the garden club or the basketball club. They're a little short on members."

"I wonder why," Luzma mutters.

"I'll join the basketball club!" Carrie says immediately. No surprise there. Dahlia volunteers to be in the gardening club because that's where Ken is. Frankie picks theatre. Melanie wants to do book club, and Monique picks art.

"I'm planning on trying out for the cheer team," Elena tells the principal. "Does that meet during the free period?"

"Yes. I'll let you postpone your decision until after the tryouts."

"Thanks."

Rachel and Carly agree on music club, and Luzma decides to join art club with Monique because she's trying to improve her drawing skills.

"Miss Samantha?" The principal looks at me quizzically. "What would you prefer?"

"Oh, umm…" I look down at the list. I love flowers. I really want to join the gardening club. But everyone else can't know that… "I guess I'll do the gardening thing since they need members." Yeah, that's my reason.

"Alright," the principal says, satisfied with our choices. "Please go to your clubs and see if there is anything they need done." With that, she walks away.

"Where do you think the gardening club is?" Dahlia asks as everyone separates, going to their separate clubs.

"I'd assume it's in the garden," I say.

"Ooh, that would make sense," Dahlia agrees. "Let's go."

"Daaaaaaahliiiiiia!" Ken's high-pitched voice echoes through the hall. "Wait for me!"

"Ken! Are you going to the gardening club?"

"Yes! I'm so happy we're in the same club!"

"Me too!"

"Oooookay, let's go," I say, stepping between the happy couple.

The garden isn't too hard to find. The principal wasn't kidding about it being short on members; there are only two people here. One is a girl holding a giant sketchbook with braided purple hair, and the other is a boy with bright green eyes and matching hair. Gosh. I feel like the three of us really stand out with our…natural hair colors.

"Oh, look Jade, more people," the girl says. She stares at the ground shyly, unwilling to meet our eyes. The boy, who I assume is Jade, smiles at us and waves us through the gate.

"Are you guys new to the club?" he asks.

"Yeah, we were told you needed members," I reply. Man, his eyes are gorgeous…when they lock on mine, I almost feel like melting….

SAMMY. Stop it.

"So, is there anything you'd like us to do?" Dahlia asks.

"Yeah, actually, it would be great if you want to take these two plants out of here and put them in the classrooms. But don't put this one in the student council room," Jade says, pointing to a leafy green plant. "Nathaniel will get upset."

"He seems to get upset about a lot of things," I say.

"Yeah, he does," Jade laughs. "But he's not all bad."

"So, Ken and I will get the plants," Dahlia says, picking up a big potted plant while Ken takes the other one. "We'll be back later." Ken and Dahlia disappear through the gate, talking and laughing at inside jokes, leaving me standing there awkwardly.

"So…" I begin, "my name's Sammy?"

"I'm Jade, but you know that," Jade says with a smile. "And this is Violette."

"Oh! That's so awesome! Your name is Violette and you have purple hair!" I say. Violette gives me a small smile.

"Thanks," she says, her voice barely audible. Jade punches Violette's arm playfully and kneels down to dig around in his bag.

"Oh, no!" he groans, standing up. "Violette, I'm officially an idiot."

"Why?" she asks.

"I left the seeds I was supposed to get with Iris!"

"Jade…"

"Ugh, I'm sorry, Vi."

"I could go find her for you," I volunteer. Jade's beyond gorgeous eyes light up.

"Really? That'd be amazing, thank you."

"No problem. Who's Iris?"

"Oh, she's hard to miss, don't worry. She's got this bright red hair that she usually braids on the side, and she wears a lot of purple."

"She might be in the first classroom on the left," Violette offers. "She hangs out there sometimes."

"Okay. I'll go check."

Thank goodness Violette gave me a location instead of a room number, because otherwise I wouldn't have known where to go. Sure enough, when I step inside, a girl with bright red hair is chatting with Melody from yesterday.

"Oh, hey!" Melody greets me. "I recognize you from yesterday!"

"Yeah, I'm Sammy. And are you Iris?" I ask the redhead.

"Yes, that's me!" she replies.

"I'm helping out Jade and Violette in the garden, and-"

"Lemme guess, Jade wants his seeds back," Iris cuts me off. "I had taken some home for my mom, but she didn't want all of them. I've got them right here…" she digs through her bright purple backpack and pulls out a giant Ziploc bag filled with seeds. "Here you go."

"Thanks." I take the seeds and rush back to the garden. Jade grins when he sees I have the seeds.

"Hey, thanks!" he says.

"No problem. Are Ken and Dahlia not back yet?"

"No, I think they bailed," Jade says. He seems slightly irritated by that. "Thanks for not going with them."

"Eh, I like flowers," I tell him. I'm in the stupid gardening club. He might as well know.

"I would sure hope so, seeing as you chose this club," Jade laughs.

"Hey, Jade, I told Kim I'd help her with her English homework," Violette speaks up. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Jade sighs. Violette murmurs a quiet thank you and leaves the garden. Jade glances over at me. "Sammy, would you mind helping me plant these?" How can I say no to those eyes?

"Sure. I have to warn you though, I don't really know what I'm doing."

"Hmm, okay." He leans on his shovel and looks me straight in the eye. "I'll give you a little pop quiz, then. If I were to water an orchid, a lilac, and a cactus and was going to water them in order from most delicate to strongest, what order would I water them in?"

Oh, gosh. I have absolutely no idea. So I take a wild guess. I'll just repeat the plants in the order he said them.

"The orchid, the lilac, and then the cactus?" His eyes light up.

"See? You know what you're doing."

"If you say so."

I help Jade out with the plants for a while. Dahlia and Ken never come back and neither does Violette. I can't help but notice how careful Jade is with the plants. He treats them like they're his mother's wedding china or something.

When the free period is over, the bell rings to go to class. Jade and I stand and gather our things.

"Thanks for all your help," he says softly. He reaches down and picks a daisy from the flower bed, and tucks it behind my ear. He stares into my eyes, and I can feel myself leaning closer and closer. I want to kiss him so badly….

SAMMY! WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU TODAY!?

"I'll see you tomorrow, Jade!" I say quickly. He says goodbye and I run away to re-find my History class that I share with Frankie and Dahlia and Monique. I'll have to drill Dahlia about where she was. Maybe it'll get my mind off of what just happened. Or rather, what _almost_ happened.

**Hope you liked it! Do you guys think Sweet Amoris should have a Homecoming dance? Tell me what you think in a review!**

**And yes, the musical is going to be Beauty and the Beast. It was unanimous :) Who do you guys think should be the Beast? Someone we know or just a random guy? **

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	6. Chapter 6

**Oh my goodness! I have super amazing news! Well, I think it's super amazing, but you guys might just think I'm crazy…oh well, you would be right. So, I was bored and was looking up the meanings of names, and as it turns out, Carly is a diminutive form of the name Carlotta, which means "free." And Lysander means "the one who is freed!" So, completely coincidentally, their names have basically the same meaning! Talk about fate! **

**Also, Castiel's name means "angel of Thursday." Who knew?**

**I'm sorry. Names are exciting things for me :) And it seems we want a Homecoming, so I'm currently in the process of internet shopping on Polyvore for everybody. I'll post their outfits on the blog when the dance rolls around, as well as Halloween costumes. **

**Okay. That's all the announcements. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

_Luzma Alejandri-Cruz_

My phone rings loudly as Monique and I are walking to art club. I get several stares from people passing by, and in response I self- consciously turn it back on vibrate, where it belongs. But not before looking at who the message is from.

Dake: hey, babe. your first day go okay?

"Who's that?" Monique asks curiously, peering over my shoulder at the text. I try to hide it, but I'm too slow. Monique's eyes widen. "Oooooh, is that the guy you met at the beach?"

"Yeah," I say. There's not really any point in denying it. "He's been texting me since the summer ended. I don't know why he thinks we're still 'together.'"

"Luz, he's calling you babe! That's pretty serious!"

"No it's not," I disagree. "Guys call girls babes all the time."

"You know, if a guy calls you 'babe,' it means he likes your body. If he likes _you, _he calls you 'beautiful.'"

"Moni, that's not true. And besides, it doesn't matter. I don't even really like the guy, and I'm probably never going to see him again. Or, at least not until summer."

"If you're never going to see him again, why bother to keep texting him?" Hmm. Even I have to admit, she has a point. I don't really know the answer to that question. My little romance with Dake was just a fling. Nothing meaningful. Sure, we kissed a few times, but nothing beyond that. And what's a kiss, really? Kisses can be thrown around like confetti.

So why don't I stop texting him if it's true that I don't feel anything?

"Luz?" Monique asks, waving a hand in front of my face. "Luuuuzma? Earth to Luzma!"

"Sorry," say, jolting back to reality. "Just lost in thought."

"Mmmm hmmm," Moni says skeptically.

"I've gotta go to the bathroom," I tell Monique. I actually don't, but I want to text Dake back without her prying eyes. "I'll meet you in the art room, okay? It's right at the end of the hall, I think."

"Okey dokey," Monique says. "Hurry up, though. I don't wanna be all alone."

"Wait for me outside the door, then," I suggest. "Be right back." Without waiting for another response, I duck into the girls' bathroom and pull out my phone.

Me: yeah, its alright wbu?

Dake: boring w/out u

Me: thts sweet gotta go 2 class, sry

Dake: ok love u beautiful

His last text knocks the breath out of me. He loves me? He's never said that before. Does he mean it? Or does he throw around his love like I throw around my kisses? And, on top of that, he called me beautiful. And babe. In one conversation. I wonder if Monique knows what that means.

Somehow, though, I can't make my fingers type "I love you" back.

_Monique Rochester_

I wait outside of the art room for Luzma. There are quite a few kids in there, and I am not about to walk in by myself….

"YOUNG LADY! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" the principal's voice echoes around me at a startling volume. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH KIKI?"

"Kiki?" I ask, confused. "Who's Kiki?"

"MY DOG, YOU IDIOT LITTLE GIRL! GO FIND HIM!" The principal's face is bright red, and I swear I can see little flames dancing around in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, your dog?" I clarify. The principal seems too enraged to say anything else, so she just points down the hall, her face becoming more and more red from lack of breathing.

"Find him," she hisses. I hold up my hands in surrender and run down the hall, more to get away from her than to find her dog. Dahlia and Ken are coming inside with big plants in their hands, laughing about something.

"Dahlia!" I scream. "You've got to save me!"

"Save you?" Dahlia asks, confused. "From what?"

"The principal!"

"I like the principal," Ken states. "She seems very nice."

"I'm telling you right now, mister, she's evil. We've got to like, hide. What are you doing with those things?"

"The peeps in the garden club asked us to put them in classrooms."

"YOUNG LADY! YOU'D BETTER BE ASKING YOUR FRIENDS THERE IF THEY'VE SEEN MY DARLING KIKI!" I sigh and run a hand through my hair. She's serious?

"Forget the gardening club," I tell Ken and Dahlia, taking the plants out of their hands and setting them next to the wall. "We've got a dog to find."

"A dog?" Ken asks quizzically. "There's a dog in the school?"

"I'd love to help you Moni, but we told the garden club we'd be right back…"

"Oh, well. They can do with just Sammy. I need you guys!" Dahlia shrugs and agrees to come along, and Ken says he wants to stay with Dahlia.

We run through every classroom trying to find the stupid dog, and every time we see it, it runs away. A girl named Iris tells us that it's usually her who has to find the dog, and suggests we find Castiel, because he has a dog and might have some treats.

Castiel seems to have gotten out of being in a club, and he's right in the courtyard like he was earlier. He's sitting with some other boy with silvery hair and a very, very Victorian looking outfit. This must be the Lysander dude Melanie was talking about. The two of them have their heads bent together over a notebook, scribbling furiously.

"Hey, Castiel!" I holler across the courtyard. "So I heard you had a dog?"

"What about it?" he grumbles, looking up. "This better be good. I'm busy right now."

"Do you have any treats with you?"

"Maybe. Why?"

"I've got to catch the principal's dog. Can you give them to me please?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I'm busy," he growls. Well, then. I fold my arms across my chest and stare him down.

"I am not leaving until you get me them," I say stubbornly. "The principal acts like she's gonna get us expelled."

"Castiel, we've got to finish this…" Lysander says softly. "And I'd rather she didn't watch us." His voice is smooth and monotonous. Castiel curses and stands angrily, storming inside the school to get his bag. Lysander looks up at us with a disapproving stare. Hmm. His eyes are different colors. He doesn't say anything, and we stand there awkwardly waiting for Castiel to get back.

"Here are your stupid treats," he says upon his return, thrusting a bag at me. "Give them back when you're done."

"Thank you," I say bitterly. I grab Ken's sweater and Dahlia's braid and pull them with me. I am not in a good mood.

"Kiki!" Dahlia calls as we circle the school again. "We've got treats for you!" I shake the bag as proof, and Ken joins Dahlia in calling out to the dog.

"Kiki!"

After twenty minutes of searching in vain, we're rewarded with a little high pitched bark, and the dog runs out from behind a bush. It's actually a pretty darn cute dog, with floppy ears and little brown patches, but right now I hate him.

"Kiki! Here, come get your treats," I say, kneeling down and holding out one of the treats. Kiki barks again and rushes up to me. Ken grabs his collar while he eats the treat out of my hand.

"Good doggy," Dahlia murmurs, bending down to pet him. He finishes the treat and she scoops him up in her arms. "Where's the principal?"

"She is probably in her office," Ken says.

"Okay, let's go," I tell them. Then I remember Castiel. "Oh, hey, Ken?"

"Yes, Monique?" Ken asks, his eyes wide behind his glasses. I hand him the treats.

"Would you mind taking these back to Castiel?" Ken's chronic smile falters for a moment.

"C-Castiel?" he stammers. "I don't like him very much."

"C'mon, he won't beat you up on school property," I tease.

"Oh, I don't know about that…"

"Please, Ken?" Dahlia asks. "I'll be right back. If we split up we'll get everything done, and then we can go back to the club and tell them we had a very good reason for not coming back."

"Oh, okay," Ken agrees. "Anything for you, Dahlia." Dahlia blushes slightly and squeezes the dog.

"Come on, Moni," she says. We leave while Ken goes back to find Castiel. Poor guy.

"We have your dog, Ma'am," I say, entering the office. The principal seems to be drying her tears. She looks up expectantly at my words.

"KIKI!" she shrieks. She runs over to Dahlia and rips the dog from her arms. She hugs Kiki close to her chest, swaying back and forth, not noticing that Kiki clearly wants to be put down. "How did you find him?"

"It was no trouble," I say sweetly. "Eventually he just got tired of running."

"Oh, well thank you very much, ladies! You can go back to your clubs, now." Right on cue, the bell rings for class. "Or…go to class, actually," the principal amends her statement. "Goodbye!"

"Bye!" Dahlia runs to get her backpack from the garden, and I already have mine on, so I just take huge breath and sigh. Why am I in such a bad mood today? Eh, who cares? Maybe my period's about to start or something weird.

_Elena Mercer_

I run into Amber on the way to class.

"Hey!" she says in a sickly sweet voice. "Just the person I wanted to see?"

"Why?" I cross my arms. I haven't actually talked to this girl yet, but Carly and Carrie did a pretty good job of describing her basic attitude. Plus, she's been bullying Ken and Dahlia really bad about being a couple. And she's been giving me the evil eye ever since talking to that guy in the courtyard yesterday. But I don't really understand that; from what I understand, she has a crush on Nathaniel.

"I don't have any money for lunch. Can I have some of yours?" Oh my gosh, money again?

"I'm sorry, no, I need what I have," I tell her. She narrows her eyes and tosses her fluffy blonde hair.

"Oh, that's so sweet. Honey, asking was just a courtesy. You're giving me your money." She reaches inside my messenger bag and fishes for my wallet. I try to shove her hands away, but she's too fast. "Ooh, here we go!" she says in a high voice. "This is great. Thanks!" She makes a show of flipping her hair in my face before prancing off to class.

"Hey! Come back here!" I shout. But of course she doesn't. And why would she? She's got my money.

Ugh. Why can't I stand up to her! I have to do something. But I don't think the principal is going to do anything…maybe Nathaniel will, though. He seems to take things pretty seriously. I hope he's not already in class. I hurriedly make my way to the student council room to see if anyone's home.

Nathaniel's still there, thank goodness, but I think it's only because there is a very upset looking Carly standing beside an equally upset Rachel.

"I'm sorry, but Amber wouldn't do that. She's my sister!"

"Really?" Carly asks in surprise. "I thought she had a crush on you or something." Nathaniel's eyes open wide in horror.

"No," he says firmly. "She's my sister."

"Well, regardless, she took our money!" Rachel speaks up. Okay, then. Amber gets around.

"She took mine, too!" I say, raising my hand. Nathaniel bangs his head against the desk as I approach the unhappy trio. "That's why I came in here."

"You, too?" Nathaniel sighs. "Well, I guess it's three against one. And you all came by yourselves. I didn't know she was like this at school. I'll try and have a talk with her."

"Thanks," Rachel says. "Thanks for your help. Good luck with her. We've got to get to class though."

"Yeah, me too. I'll talk to her at lunch, okay?" he says, standing and gathering his things. He hands us each a late pass, because apparently he has the authority to do that kind of thing, and we all go our separate ways.

But of course, I'm stopped in the hallway again.

"You got money for me, too?" Castiel asks, smirking. I stare at him incredulously, and he cracks up. "I'm kidding," he says.

"Oh, good," I sigh. "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"Eh, I don't like math very much." Suddenly his face changes as he gets an idea. "Hey, you wanna ditch with me?"

"Ditch? As in, don't go to class?"

"Is there another definition for the term 'ditch' that I don't know about?"

"No," I grin. "But I've never ditched before."

"Of course you haven't. You're a goody-goody, aren't you?"

"Well, uh, yeah," I reply, blushing.

"That can be changed," Castiel muses. "C'mon." He takes my hand and drags me to the end of the hall and up the stairs. It turns out there's more to the school then just that one hallway. Castiel leads me through the maze of halls on the top floor like he navigates it every day, which, I realize, he probably does. We go up another, smaller flight of stairs, and my breath catches in my throat at the sight.

We're on the roof of the school, overlooking the entire, tiny town. It's much prettier from an aerial view. The roof is decorated with flowers and hanging plants, which only add to its charm. I wonder if that garden club decorated it.

"Wow…" I exhale. "This is beautiful. Are we allowed up here?"

"Hmm, let's see." Castiel plops down on a stool and pretends to ponder my question. "We have classes going on right now. And we're not in our classes. So…and this is just a wild guess, here, but I'm gonna have to go with no."

"Oh, stop being such a smart alec," I snap, but I can't stifle my laugh.

"I'm gonna have to say no to that, too," he says.

"You're hopeless," I sigh, sitting on a bench.

"_You're_ hopeless," he retorts.

"Carly's hopeless." There. That shuts him up for a second. And then he starts laughing.

"That idiot friend of yours?"

"Yeah. She says you bully her." It takes me a moment to realize that I've just called one of my best friends an idiot, but I don't take it back. Carly can be a little ditzy.

"Nah. She's fun to scare, that's all."

"You don't have anyone else to scare?" Castiel thinks about this for a moment before answering.

"I used to scare Violette, if you know her, purple hair, but then she would cry and I felt bad, so I stopped. But who's that kid with the glasses always trailing that other new girl?"

"Oh. That would be Ken."

"He's fun to scare too."

"You like to scare Ken!? What did he ever do to you?" Castiel chuckles in response. I'm starting to feel bad about calling Carly an idiot, so I decide to help her out a little. "Do you think maybe you could stop bothering Carly though, in all seriousness? She does scare really easily."

"Hmmm…that'll be another no."

"Why not?"

"It's just too much fun," he replies with a shrug. "But if it helps at all, you can tell her my friend said she's very pretty." Oh, no. His friend? That's soooo ancient.

"You like Carly!" I accuse. Why does that knowledge make my chest hurt? Castiel growls and folds his arms, rising to his full height.

"No, I don't!" he protests. "My friend said that! And if she was pretty, you would be too! Girls are such idiots," he huffs.

I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, so I don't say anything. I mean, obviously the whole 'girls are idiots' thing wasn't very nice, but did he just call me pretty? Or did he call me ugly? I can't tell, and it's bugging me. So I decide to take it as a compliment, because Carly can be very pretty, especially when she doesn't do her own makeup.

"Thank you," I say snidely, crossing my legs. Castiel stares me down for a minute, and then decides to smirk again.

We stay there for the rest of second period, talking about various things. He tells me he plays guitar, which is pretty cool, and I tell him I'm into cheerleading, which he finds obnoxious. We have lots of laughs at Carly and Ken and Dahlia's expenses, but somehow it doesn't feel mean. I tell him about Amber, and he says yes, she's not really very nice. I ask what that makes him, and he laughs again. He seems really relaxed up here. He actually talks like a normal person instead of a self-absorbed bad boy rocker. But even if he did talk like that, I feel like I would still find him interesting.

Usually it takes me a week or two to find a crush, but this happened pretty darn fast.

_Frankie Roland_

We all ride the bus home, exhausted. It's been a long day. Mr. Faraize decided he wanted to learn more about us, so he's asked us all to write a short story, due on Friday. I'm actually excited. I like writing. So does German; she actually wants to be a writer. The other girls, however, are not pleased.

"We have to write story for Mr. Faraize…" Sammy complains to Jemma. "I'm not happy. I don't know what to write about."

"You can write about not being happy about writing," Rachel suggests.

"No, thanks," Sammy huffs. "I'd rather write about unicorns."

"What's wrong with unicorns?" Dahlia questions innocently.

"Oooh, I loooove unicorns!" Jemma squeals. "They're so magical!" Dahlia's eyes light up.

"Someone understands me! How do you feel about kittens?"

"Awww, kittens!"

"I like kittens!" I exclaim, raising my hand. "They eat fish!" Rachel raises her hand too; she's a little bit of a cat freak.

"And if you have to write it for Mr. Faraize…well I don't see what's wrong with that," Jemma sighs, leaning over on the table and fluttering her eyelashes dreamily.

"Umm…Miss Jemma?" Melanie asks, waving a hand in front of her face. "Please tell me that doesn't mean what I think it means." Jemma bolts upright, clasping her perfectly manicured hand over her mouth.

"I'm sorry, ladies," she says nervously. She begins to pet her hair and glance around the room. "I'll just, uh, leave you to do your homework." Jemma flies out of the room and up the stairs.

"Oh my goodness," I say, putting my hand on my forehead. "Jemma's in love with Mr. Faraize?"

"That's weird…I didn't even know she knew him," Carly tells us.

"Okay, okay. We've got to do our homework, though."

"Nah, I don't want too," Elena disagrees. "I'm giving being a rebel a try."

"Well, my grades have to be perfect," Monique says, smoothing out her papers. "So I'm getting to work."

"Monique, your grades don't have to be perfect," Luzma sighs.

"Yes they do!" Moni disagrees.

"Whatever. I want to hear about where Elena was during second period," Carrie says suggestively. Elena blushes.

"Castiel asked me to ditch class with him," she admits, looking down at her hands.

"Lena! You were alone with that guy?" Rachel gasps in horror. "What were you thinking?"

"Relax! He didn't do anything! We just talked."

"Hmmm, about what?" Carly asks.

"We talked a lot about you, actually. Apparently he has a friend who thinks you're pretty."

"His friend?!" Dahlia gasps. "That Lysander?" Elena shrugs.

"I don't know. He didn't say his name."

"Lena, you're supposed to know these things," Carly complains. "But it doesn't matter. Anyone he hangs out with is probably really obnoxious."

"He seemed very soft spoken," Monique says. "I had to talk to him a little bit this morning when we were looking for that dog. He didn't like me very much."

"Well, you were in a bad mood," Dahlia reminds her. Monique shrugs and nods.

"This is true. So, Luzma, tell us about this Dake character you're still dating."

"You're still dating Dake?" Melanie asks, clearly surprised. Luzma runs a hand through her hair and rolls her eyes.

"So what? I told you guys, it's no big deal."

"It obviously is! He lives on a different continent, Luz!"

"That's what I said this morning," Monique giggles. "Well, something like that, anyways." Ugh. This is exhausting.

"Hey, guys, can I ask your opinion on something?" Melanie asks suddenly, pulling a sketchbook out of her bag. "I was thinking about taking these down to Oracle and showing Leigh, but I want to see what you guys think?" She lays her notebook down on the table and we crowd around it.

"Ooooh…." Is the collective response.

"I was eating an apple the other day and I thought, hey, I should make dresses inspired by fruit!" Melanie says, explaining her collection. "Ironically, there's not an apple dress, but do you like them?"

Melanie's dresses are so pretty! She's drawn sixteen different dresses in different styles, all inspired by a specific fruit. I, for one, would wear the dragon fruit one every day. Polka-dots? Yes, please!

"I think Leigh will love them, Mel," I say encouragingly. And I do. According to Melanie, Leigh has a great fashion sense. What he designs is nothing like what he wears, which may be strange, but whatever. I can't say I'm a huge fan of what he wears. He's not a bad guy, though.

"Thanks! I'm gonna go show him!" Melanie packs her notebook in her bag again and bounces towards the door, elated by our approval.

"Wait, right now?" Rachel calls. "You have to write that story for Mr. Faraize, though!"

"I'll write it!" Jemma calls from up the stairs. Has she been listening to us the entire time? She slides down the banister like a swan and holds her hands to her chest. "Oh, it'll be a delightful romance with a dreamy pirate and a beautiful girl who has been betrothed to another, and…"

Lord, please spare me. I didn't do anything to deserve this. I pat Jemma's shoulder condescendingly on my way out of the room, leaving the rest of the girls to listen to Jemma's pending romance novel.

I skip downstairs and set up my pretty white laptop and log onto a chat room. There's only one other person in the "room" whose username is DoritoA2. It's kind of a strange name, but then again, mine is CoffeeAddict247. It's okay. Usernames are supposed to be ridiculous. When the person doesn't make the first move, I decide to.

CoffeeAddict247: Hey, wassup?

It only takes a few seconds to get a reply.

DoritoA2: I'm avoiding my brother, you?

CoffeeAddict247: I just escaped a conversation about romance novels.

It takes a moment for Dorito to type back, and I laugh to myself. That's kind of an awkward thing to respond to.

DoritoA2: Sorry, are you a guy or a girl?

CoffeeAddict247: I'm a girly! You?

DoritoA2: I'm a guy :)

Our conversation is interrupted when another user joins the chat room: MrRainbow34. Mr. Rainbow? That's a little odd.

MrRainbow34: Yo! Get off the stupid internet!

CoffeeAddict247: Excuse me?

DoritoA2: Sorry about him, he was talking to me. It's my brother.

MrRainbow34: You promised to go shopping with me! Get off!

DoritoA2: Hey, sorry Coffee, but I did promise…

CoffeeAddict247: That's cool. I've got schoolwork to do.

DoritoA2: Okay. Catch you later.

CoffeeAddict247: KK, bye!

Mr. Rainbow and Dorito both log off. Well, that was the most interesting chat room experience I've ever had.

I guess it's time to get started on that story.

_Melanie Reed_

I really hope Leigh likes my designs. I don't have many people to bounce my ideas off of. Jemma would be great if she didn't only design costumes, and the girls pretty much just go along with anything I do. They can't pick out the miniscule details or offer suggestions.

I probably should've asked before I kind of took Jemma's car….but the keys were hanging right by the door.

Leigh is in Oracle when I get there, talking to a pretty girl with super long, almost white hair. I think she's in some of my classes…Rosalya, maybe?

"Hi, Leigh!" I say, entering the store. Leigh looks up the girl turns around. Yep, it's Rosalya. "Oh, hey Rosalya!" I greet her. She smiles.

"Hi! Melanie, right?"

"Right."

"You two go to school together?" Leigh asks in surprise, looking from me to Rosalya.

"Yeah, we're in the same grade," Rosalya says. She walks around the counter to where Leigh is and gives him a hug. Leigh smiles, something I've never really seen before. They must be dating or something.

"Melanie, can I help you?" Leigh asks me.

"You could sell me that dress…" It's still being displayed in the shop window, and it's still calling my name, just like it was that first day. Leigh's smile disappears and he shakes his head.

"You want his dress?" Rosalya laughs. "Good luck with that. He wouldn't even give it to _me."_

"His dress?"

"Yeah. He designed and made it," Rosalya tells me. Oh! Then he's definitely the perfect person to ask about my designs. Maybe…maybe he could even help me bring them to life! The excitement is unbearable.

"Rosa…" Leigh murmurs, silently asking her to stop. She smiles and hugs him again.

"Sorry, Leigh." Leigh sighs and looks back at me.

"So is there anything you need?"

"You mean, other than the dress?"

"Yes. You can't have the dress."

"I know. Well, I kind of dabble in designing from time to time, and you're the only person I know who actually knows anything at all about clothes, so I was wondering…"

"You want me to take a look for you?"

"Yes! That would be great."

"Okay. I've only got a couple minutes, though. Rosa and I are going to a movie."

"Thanks! I'll be quick, promise." I pull my sketchbook out of my bag and flip through it until I find the fruit dresses. I turn the book around and lay it on the table in front of Leigh and Rosalya. "So?" Leigh and Rosalya both lean into get a closer look at the dresses.

"The watermelon one is fabulous," Rosalya says. "I want it."

"I agree, that one is excellent," Leigh says. My heart flutters inside my chest a little. He likes them!

"Thanks," I squeak. "Any suggestions?"

"I don't know. These are all pretty good," Leigh tells me. "If I had to pick one thing, I would say to alter the shape on the lychee dress a little; it's not all that flattering, and slightly cliché. The others are so unique, it stands out." I peer at my sketches to see what he's talking about.

"Oh, yeah, I see what you mean," I agree. And I do. He's absolutely right. "What do you think about the neck piece on the star fruit? Do you think it's too busy?"

"Maybe take away one of the layers to open it up a little bit."

"That's what I was thinking, yeah…what about the ruffles on the mango? That's almost the same thing."

"Hmm…I'll have to get back to you on that…I love the shape on the blackberry, though."

"Thanks." We talk for a while longer, bouncing ideas back and forth off each other. He seems genuinely interested in my designs, and I agree with most everything he says. It's awesome to have a fresh eye. After a while, though, Rosalya gets annoyed.

"Leigh…the movie's starting in ten minutes and it'll take us that long just to get to the theatre!"

"She's right, Melanie, sorry," Leigh says apologetically. "Would you mind if I held on to this? Come by tomorrow and we can talk a little more if you want."

"Absolutely!" I reply enthusiastically. "See you tomorrow, then!" I wave goodbye and leave the store.

He liked them. He _really_ liked them.

When I get back to the house, the girls are downstairs watching another Disney movie_. Beauty and the Beast,_ apparently to prepare Frankie for her audition. We'll all have the movie memorized by the auditions in two weeks. Belle's dress is really pretty, I notice. I wonder what it would look like if I modernized it…

**Yes, that was a foreshadow.**

**So I knew I was forgetting something, and I have just now remembered the absentee note thing. That will happen eventually. **

**Melanie's dress collection is on the blog (newbeginningsnewlovemcl. blogspot. com)**

**Hope you liked it, and please review! If you have any ideas or anything you'd like to see happen, don't hesitate! Some of the best ideas for this story so far have come from you guys. **

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! If there are lots of typos in this chapter, it's because I have a paper cut and it is impossible for me to correctly type the letter 'e.' You would not believe how many times I have pressed backspace while writing this paragraph :)**

**Nothin' else to say. Hope you like this chapter! It's mostly a Carly/Rachel/Elena chapter, sorry :(**

_Carly Neilson_

"Hey, Rachel, Elena, we've gotta go see Nathaniel about his idiot sister," I remind the girls as we go into school.

"Oh, right," Rachel remembers. "C'mon." She grabs Elena's and my wrist and drags us into the student council room. She seems to be quite eager to see the president.

"Hi, Nathaniel!" Elena calls.

"Ah, Elena!" Nathaniel replies. "I need to talk to you."

"Yeah, we need to talk to you, too. Did you talk to Amber?" I ask.

"No, well, yes, but that's not what I need to talk to Elena about."

"Okay, you know what, I'm really eager to hear what you have to say to me, but we asked you about this yesterday. First come, first serve," Elena snaps, clearly annoyed. She must know what this is about.

"C'mon, Lena, calm down," Rachel begs. "But she does have a point, Nathaniel."

"Alright, alright. I talked to Amber, and she said she didn't do anything. Happy?"

"No! You're just going to let her get away with it?" I ask.

"I'm sorry; I don't have any proof, Carly. There's nothing I can do about it."

"So you're just going to let her get away with stealing people's money?"

"If I see it, I'll believe it, I promise."

"Guys, there's nothing we can do," Rachel says softly. "We've got to go to our clubs now."

"Rachel, actually I was wondering if you'd like to go to the library with me." Nathaniel asks, brightening up. "I have some studying to do, if you want to come."

"Oh, yeah, sure," Rachel says. "That'd be fun."

"Okay, now what did you want to tell me?" Elena asks. Nathaniel approaches her and hands her two little slips of paper. I can barely make out what he says.

"You skipped class yesterday with Castiel," he whispers, "so I'm gonna need you to get your guardian or whoever you live with to sign one of these."

"And the other one?"

"That's the fun part. You need to get Castiel to sign it."

"Castiel? Why don't his parents sign it?"

"He's legally independent."

"Okay?"

"Just get him to sign it, please. I don't want to deal with him."

"I don't think he's going to sign it."

"Please just try?" Lena pauses before answering.

"Fine. I'll give it a shot."

"Thanks."

"Whatever." Elena is not very happy right now. I think Nathaniel kind of ticks her off. He ticks me off a little, too. Rachel seems to have taken quite a shine to him, though.

"Okay. Rachel, you ready?" Nathaniel asks, collecting his books.

"Yeah, let's go."

_Rachel Biersack_

I like Nathaniel. But it doesn't strike me until we're halfway down the hall that I just agreed to be alone with him. Umm….oh, look! Monique and Luzma haven't gotten to the art club yet.

"Monique! Luzma!" I holler. Nathaniel gives me a quizzical look, but I pretend I don't notice. "Nathaniel and I are gonna go study! You guys wanna come?" Luzma shakes her head no, and surprisingly, so does Monique.

"I hate studying," Luzma says.

"And I haven't gotten to even go to art club yet," Monique tells me.

"Please, Moni," I beg, getting closer and lowering my voice so that Nathaniel doesn't hear me. "I really don't want to be alone with a guy."

"Why?" Luzma asks. "It's fun."

"Yeah, maybe for you!" I hiss. "Look, please?"

"No! If you didn't want to go with him, you shouldn't have agreed! You got yourself into this, so you get yourself out of it," Monique says.

"I don't wanna hurt his feelings…"

"What's he gonna do? Rape you?" Luzma teases. I stiffen. If only she knew…

"Rachel? Is there a problem?" Nathaniel asks, coming up behind me. "Can we go now?"

"Um, yeah," I say, glaring at my friends. "We can go."

"Great. Come on." Nathaniel waves his hand towards the end of the hall, where the library is.

"Okay." With one final dirty stare thrown at Luzma and Monique, I turn and follow Nathaniel down the hall. I like him a lot, and I don't want to just come out and say I don't want to be alone with him. So I guess I'll just have to suffer through it.

And invest in a panic button.

The library looks like any other high school's. The walls are lined with books, and there's a little section filled with tables for studying. Another row of tables is in the middle, but they're covered with ancient computers coated in dust. No one uses the library.

"So, did you want to study anything in particular?" I ask Nathaniel as we sit down.

"Well, we have to do this history analysis thing, and I wanted to get a second opinion. Here, take a look." He slides closer to me, and I instinctively slide away. He looks up from his paper, looking slightly offended.

"What's up with you?"

"Nothing," I say quickly. I wonder if he can hear how fast my heart is beating.

"No, seriously. You don't have to be here if you don't want to."

"No! I totally want to be here!"

"Then why are you acting so weird?" Ugh. He's got me trapped. I guess I did this to myself.

"I….I don't trust guys," I admit, my voice barely audible.

"Sorry, didn't catch that." He's gonna make me say it again?

"I get really nervous around guys," I tell him, raising my voice to a normal level. "I had a really bad experience and now I'm a little paranoid, okay?"

"Well, what happen-" I look him in the eye, and he somehow magically understands. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"No, _I'm_ sorry," I say, standing. "I'm just…I'm too…ugh, I'm sorry. I've got to go." I gather my things quickly and start to head out of the library.

"Hey, if you ever want to talk, I'm here, okay?" he calls after me. "I mean, I'm probably the last resort, but you know…"

"Thanks," I say, turning back and smiling at him. "That's sweet." I turn to leave again, and then remember one more thing I have to tell him. "By the way, your sister did steal our money."

"I believe you," he sighs, throwing his head back.

"You do?" I ask in surprise.

"Yeah. You don't seem like the type to make that up."

"Thanks."

"Sure. So if you're not gonna study with me, would you mind doing me another favor?"

"Um, I guess not, what?"

"Make sure Castiel signs that note I gave your friend. I don't think she's gonna do it."

"Okay, I'll make sure she gets him to sign it," I laugh. "See you in class." Nathaniel sits back down and opens his books to study while I go to look for Elena.

It takes me a few minutes, but I eventually find her sitting alone on a bench out in the courtyard, fingering the two notes.

"Hey!" I say, plopping down next to her. "You're looking especially meditative right now."

"I don't want to make him sign this," Elena sighs, leaning back against the bench. "He won't want to."

"Come on. Why does it even matter? Nathaniel needs you to do it."

"Oh, Nathaniel, huh?"

"Look, I know you don't like him, but he's a person too!"

"So is Castiel! And he will not want to sign it!"

"Lena," I say, staring her down. "What's the real problem, here?" Lena rolls her head around in a circle before looking back at me.

"I'm afraid he won't like me if I make him sign it," she admits. And the truth comes out.

"And Nathaniel won't like _me_ if I don't make you make him sign it," I whine. Lena thrusts the note at me.

"You go make him, then!" Oh…I really should've seen that coming.

"What? No! Nathaniel asked you to do it because he might actually listen to you!"

"Yeah? Well, I've got news for you. It's the first week of school. He doesn't even know me!"

"He asked you to ditch with him, that's something!"

"I feel like the name of this school is jinxing everything." Huh. I've never thought of that. Well, regardless, I've decided I like Nathaniel. And I need that note signed.

"Fine, I'll do it," I grumble, snatching the blank note out of Lena's hand. "But you owe me big time."

"Okay. I'll get Nathaniel to ask you out," she jokes, relaxed now that she doesn't have to do it.

"You'd better," I say back, tugging on her hair playfully. And then it's off to find Castiel.

Or rather, just walk up to him. He and his friend Lysander are sitting in their special spot on the bench, bent over Lysander's notebook. I've seen them here every morning so far.

"Hi!" I say cheerfully. "Pretty day, isn't it?"

"What do you want?" Castiel growls, not even looking up.

"I'm really sorry to bother you, but Nathaniel asked me to ask you to sign this…" I hold the note out for him to see. He narrows his stormy gray eyes menacingly.

"I'm not signing that."

"Please? He originally asked Elena, but she doesn't want to make you sign it, so I have to."

"Sounds like Elena had the right idea. Leave us alone."

"Castiel, what's the big deal?"

"I'm not signing it!"

"I need you to!" I jump back when Castiel stands up. He looks like he's about to hit me or something! Suddenly, someone grabs my wrist from behind and pulls me back, and Lysander drags Castiel back down to a sitting position by tugging on his jacket.

"Rachel, you win, I'll handle this," Elena whispers behind me. Castiel's flaming eyes flicker back and forth between her and me. "Castiel, I know you don't want to, and I understand that, but Nathaniel really needs you to sign it."

"Forget it. He just wants to get me expelled."

"Okay, obviously you guys have your issues, and that's your business, right, but I've got to bring this one home too. It's not just you he's after." Elena holds up her absentee note and waves it around. Castiel relaxes his posture a little, but only a tiny bit.

"Fine, gimme the stupid thing." He rips the note out of my hand and steals Lysander's pen. He scribbles something that doesn't even vaguely resemble his name on the slip of paper, and gives it to Elena.

"Thanks," she says.

"Just go away," he mumbles.

"Will do," I say, grabbing Lena's ponytail and dragging her away. "That was not fun," I tell her when we're out of earshot.

"I'm sorry. I should have just done it."

"Yes, you should have."

"I hate you."

"I hate you, too." I squeeze her shoulders in a strange kind of hug as we make our way back to the library, which, I figure, is probably where Nathaniel still is. I'm right. He looks up as we enter and grins broadly when Elena holds up the note.

"Thanks! I didn't think you guys could do it!"

"Wow! Thanks for the vote of confidence," I tease. Nathaniel laughs and takes the note from Elena. I guess he can take a joke when he's in a good mood.

"NATHANIEL!" Carly's voice shouts. I turn around to see her storming through the door, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Your 'angelic' sister stole from me again!" Goodbye good mood…

"She did?" All of the sudden, Nathaniel sounds exhausted.

"Yeah. But you're not going to do anything about it, so how about this. You give me an idea for a prank to pull on her, and we'll call it even."

"A prank?" Nathaniel questions, raising one eyebrow. "I don't know if I can condone that."

"Well, you don't have to know about it," Carly reminds him.

"I think it sounds fun," Elena joins in. "I mean, we don't have any proof and you can't stop her, so we might as well pull a prank or something funny."

"Alright," Nathaniel finally agrees. "She hates spiders. There might be something you can do with that."

"'Kay. Thanks!" Carly grabs Elena's hand and they bounce out of the library to begin formulating their brilliant plan.

"Are you not going to go with them?" Nathaniel asks.

"Hmmm…yes, yes I am," I decide. "It'll be fun." Nathaniel grins and shakes his head.

"I don't understand girls," he says.

"That's okay. Bye!" I run after my friends, excited to play a little practical joke on Sweet Amoris's Queen Bee.

"So, where are we going to get spiders?" I ask Carly once I catch up. Elena has taken off running down the hall.

"She said she saw some fake ones at that store the other day," Carly tells me. "But I'm not about to go get them. I don't like spiders."

"Well, I guess I know how to scare you now."

"Ah!" Carly whips around and finds herself once again face to face with Castiel. Her face turns bright red and she stomps on his foot without thinking. "Don't do that!"

"Is that all you've got? I didn't even feel it," Castiel chuckles, glancing down at his foot.

"Yeah? Well, if you want I can kick you where it really hurts!" is her halfhearted comeback. Castiel rolls his eyes, which has become routine during his ordeals with Carly.

"Hey, I'm sorry about the whole note thing," I say. "I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal."

"You thought wrong. Where's Elena run off to?"

"She went to go get some fake spiders."

"Um…why?"

"We're playing a prank on Amber. She stole our money." I don't think he's going to do anything about it.

"Why bother with spiders? Just graffiti her locker or something; it'll last longer."

"Ooh, that's actually a good idea!" Carly says. She texts a quick note to Lena, probably telling her to get spray paint. "Well, thanks for stopping by. See yah!" Castiel messes up her hair again before stalking off.

"He and Lena better not end up together or he's gonna be around a lot…" Carly grumbles once he's gone.

"Oh, shut it."

_Elena Mercer_

Spray paint? Okay…

I bring both items back to the school and find Rachel and Carly waiting by the door.

"What's the paint for?" I ask.

"We're gonna graffiti her locker, too," Rachel informs me.

"Ah, so we're living on the edge, now, are we?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, let's get to it. Which locker is hers?"

"That one. The one with the sparkly pink stickers on it that spell 'Amber,'" Carly says, pointing out a locker. Huh. I hadn't noticed that.

"Okay, well let's hurry up so we don't get caught." I hand Carly the spray paint, and she proceeds to paint a crude skull and crossbones sign over her locker. Carly sucks at art, but she refuses to touch the spiders. Rachel and I use little strips of tape to stick the spiders to the outside of her locker.

"YOUNG LADIES! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?!" Oh, no. Seriously? The principal is rushing towards us, and I've never seen her more upset. We've only been here for a few days, but still…I don't think I've ever seen anyone this mad, save for Castiel at Rachel this morning.

"We were just pulling a prank!" Carly speaks up. "You see, Amber stole-"

"You are vandalizing school property!" the principal screams. Rachel stares at the ground, and I look back and forth from the bag of spiders in my hand to the ones taped to her locker in dismay. There's no way out of this.

"What's our punishment?" I sigh.

"You are staying after school to clean this up! And the graffiti in the staircase!"

"But we didn't do tha-" I begin.

"Nonsense!" the principal cuts me off. "And be in detention every day for the rest of the week! Next week, too!" With that, she storms off, her boxy shoes clanking loudly under the force of her step.

"Well, what now?" Carly sighs.

"I'd text Jemma so she knows we won't be home…" Rachel replies. "And let's just go outside until the bell."

"Ugh, this is awful," I complain. "She totally deserved that!"

"I know, but there's nothing we can do," Rachel says. I moan in agreement, imagining the impending afternoon.

The rest of the day drags on and on. The only good part is watching Amber fall to the ground at the sight of her locker, screaming uncontrollably. That was great. But the rest of it was just boring.

Carly, Rachel and I agreed to meet by the janitor's closet. That's probably where all the cleaning stuff will be. After digging through lots and lots and lots and lots of buckets and baskets filled with sponges and Windex, we finally have what we need.

After a lot of work, we manage to scrub clean the graffiti in the staircase. There's lots of it, but it comes off pretty easily. Rachel cleans up Amber's locker. Carly and I are talking about our story ideas for Mr. Faraize when we hear a loud sound coming from behind the stairs.

"What the…?" Carly stands and looks around. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah…" I get up off my knees and circle around warily. We hear the sound again, louder this time. It almost sounds like…music? No, that's ridiculous. Who could possibly be playing music at six o'clock in the school?

But no, it's definitely there. It plays steadily for a few seconds, and then it stops suddenly. A door opens. And a shadowy figure emerges from the shadows, their face obscured by the dim light.

"Who's there?" Carly calls. The figure remains silent, but quietly approaches. The person's footsteps make absolutely no sound.

"Carly…Carly I think it's a…"

"Ghost!" Carly finishes. She grabs the bucket of cleaning supplies and runs for it.

"Hey, guys, you ready-"

"RUN!" We race past Rachel as fast as we can and rush down the streets. Rachel isn't far behind, but she's running to keep up, not because she's scared half to death.

We had been planning to call Jemma to pick us up in her car, but we end up running several blocks before actually calling her. She pulls up ten minutes later and laughs at us, her magenta eyes flashing.

"You little fairies are ridiculous," she laughs. "How'd you end up here?"

"We ran," Carly exhales, still trying to catch her breath. Rachel is leaning against a brick building with her eyes closed. The only reason I'm not dead is thanks to cheerleading. I've been practicing a lot; tryouts are this Friday.

"Thanks for coming to get us, Miss Jemma," Rachel says, climbing into the backseat of the car. "These two idiots still won't tell me why they ran out."

"There was a ghost!" Carly says. "It was playing music!"

"Oh, it was not," Jemma disagrees. "How many times must I tell you, there are no such things as ghosts!"

"Well, there was something back there," I insist. "We saw something."

"And you'll never see it again," Jemma laughs. "Now let's get you home. I want to show you the story I wrote for Melanie."

"You seriously wrote that story!"

"Yes!" Jemma cries. "And it is simply glorious!" Carly rolls her eyes and slumps in her seat, while Rachel tries to keep from laughing. I have to bite my tongue to keep from saying something not very nice.

The next day at school drags on just like the last. I can't believe we're in detention for the next week and a half. It's our first week of school and we're already in trouble. I can't imagine what the rest of the year will bring.

Mr. Faraize is overseeing detention, and it's just the three of us. I was kind of hoping to see Castiel here, but I guess not. I tried to talk to him today, but he just avoided me. I can't figure out why…I didn't do anything.

"Okay, girls, just no talking please. You'll be outta here in an hour," Mr. Faraize says. He makes the mistake of turning his back to us to erase the whiteboard, and I send a quick text to Aunt Jemma. We all have her number in case of emergency. And this is an emergency. We've been here thirty seconds and I'm bored out of my mind.

Me: mr faraize just mentioned how totally bored he is and how he wished he had a lovely lady to talk to…do i c an opportunity here?

Aunt Jemma: say no more i'm on my way

I giggle to myself and Rachel and Carly glance over at me in confusion. I just shrug and smile, mouthing the words _"Wait for it."_

They don't have to wait too long. Only fifteen minutes pass before Aunt Jemma bursts through the door, wearing a ridiculous hot pink dress and a ton of mascara.

"Greetings!" she says, holding her hands up in the air. "Or, salutations! I don't know what slang the young folks are using these days…"

"That would be 'yo,' I believe," Mr. Faraize tells her. "And I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"The lovely lady you requested, of course!"

"W-w-what? Excuse me?" Mr. Faraize stammers, his eyes practically popping out of his head. Carly has never looked more embarrassed, and I think Rachel's going to die from laughing too hard. I think I might, too, but then I remember the reasoning behind this whole thing. I get the girls' attention and motion towards the door. Rachel looks skeptical, but Carly drags her along. We sneak a glance backwards just in time to see a terrified Mr. Faraize backing up against a wall, Aunt Jemma walking up his shoulder with her fingers. Rachel starts giggling again and I shove her out the door. Carly isn't far behind.

"Nice one," Carly comments as soon as the door is safely closed behind us. "He'll never notice we're gone."

"Eh, he might," Rachel says nervously, glancing around.

"Come on! Have a little fun!" I say. "We've got the school to ourselves for forty-five minutes, at least!"

"Well, what is there to do?" Rachel asks snidely. "All of the classrooms are locked."

"We could go poke around the staircase to see if there's really anything there," Carly suggests.

"There probably is. I asked Nathaniel if there was some legend or something and he got all nervous," Rachel says. Carly and I throw our heads back at the mention of Nathaniel, but get over it almost immediately. Forty-five minutes isn't really all that long.

"Okay, let's go," I say. We take off towards the end of the hallway.

"Oh my gosh! Look, there's stuff here!" Carly announces, racing faster towards the staircase. Sure enough, someone has been here. There's a little brown bag sitting on the staircase, right next to a familiar looking notebook. A cigarette and a little red guitar pick rest on top of it. Carly bends down and picks up the notebook curiously, letting the cigarette and the pick fall to the ground.

"Ooh, open it!" I egg her on. "See who it belongs to!"

"No! That's so rude!"

"Ugh, fine. What's in the bag?"

"You look if you're so curious!" Rachel decides that she is, in fact, curious enough to snoop inside the bag, so she tiptoes forward and peeks inside.

"Just food," she says.

"What'd you expect in a paper bag?" Carly grumbles. She wanders around aimlessly for a few moments, her head in the clouds, the notebook tucked under her arm.

"Oh, hey!" Rachel says. "There's a door behind the stairs! The light reflected off of Carly's bracelet or something." She runs around the corner and jiggles the knob. It opens easily at her touch. "Guys, come on!" She disappears inside the door, and Carly and I follow behind at her heels.

_Carly Neilson_

Oh my gosh, I didn't know school could be awesome. But this place is.

It's like…an abandoned classroom that has been turned into a garage band. There's a beat up drum set in the corner, a keyboard against the wall, and several guitars, most of them electric. There's also a microphone plugged into the wall.

"What the heck?" Rachel says. She stands in the middle of the room and Lena flips the lights on, revealing several posters for rock bands plastered on the walls. I don't really recognize any of them, though.

"How'd all this end up here?" Elena wonders aloud. "It's pretty cool."

"We could seriously have fun in here," I realize, approaching the piano. "You guys wanna hear something I've been working on?"

"Oh, um, okay," Rachel agrees. She and Elena stand in front of the piano and I pound out a few chords, making sure I've got them right. I've been trying my hand at songwriting recently, and I think this one's coming along pretty well. But I'm not sure if I have the piano down yet. Oh well, I guess we'll find out.

"'Kay, one, two, three…white lips, pale face…" My hands are shaking the entire time while I sing. I don't know why I'm so nervous. But by some miracle, I don't mess up. I feel…at home. Safe.

_Carly, get your emotions under control._

When I finish the song, Rachel and Elena clap enthusiastically. But it seems like there's more than two sets of hands clapping…

I look up, and instantly duck under the piano. Castiel's friend Lysander is standing right outside the door.

"That wasn't bad," he says quietly, his mismatched eyes finding me under the piano. "You have a good voice."

"Umm, thanks," I reply, standing up. Elena and Rachel back out of the way so that I can actually see him, whispering to each other excitedly.

"I don't believe we've met. I'm Lysander."

"Carly," I say, looking down at the piano and fingering the frayed edge of the notebook. Lysander's eyes follow mine, and he stiffens.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh, it was on the stairs…" I glance back up at him, but he's materialized right in front of me.

"May I please have it?" He looks slightly upset, and it takes me a few seconds to figure out why.

"Oh! I'm sorry, is it yours?"

"Yes, did you read it?"

"She didn't even open it," Elena calls. Lysander relaxes noticeably.

"Really? Thanks."

"No problem." My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I apologize to Lysander quickly before reading the message.

Elena: this is the guy who thinks ur pretty! talk to him!

I snap my phone shut, thinking for some reason that Lysander saw the message, which is, of course, ridiculous.

"Is everything okay?" Lysander asks, concerned by my panicked expression.

"Oh, yeah everything's fine," I answer quickly. "Just my dad." Total lie. And what am I supposed to talk to him about? I decide to ask him how he knows about this little secret room.

"Castiel and I are a band. We practice here sometimes," he says simply.

"Oh, that's awesome!" I say, forgetting all about Lena's text. "I've always wanted to do something like that. Would you mind if I asked what you played…?"

"Not at all. But I sing."

"Cool. I love singing." Lysander gives me a little half smile.

"Yes, I noticed. And as I said, you're quite good." I can feel my face heat up. His smile widens.

"Do I make you nervous?"

"Attention makes me nervous…"

"Would you rather I turn my attention to one of your friends!"

"No!" My reply is a little too quick. I clear my throat awkwardly and stare at my feet. "Would you, um, mind if I watched you guys play sometime?"

"I'd have to ask Castiel."

"Ugh. Well there go my chances…" Lysander looks confused for a moment, and then he seems to remember something.

"Are you that girl he's always complaining about?" he asks me. "Mouse?"

"Guilty," I sigh, raising my hand. Lysander actually laughs a little.

"Lysander! Why is our stuff on the-" A very upset Castiel stops in the doorway. All it takes for him to reach boiling point is the sight of me in his sacred practice room. "What the _hell_ is she doing here?"

"This young lady and her friends found their way in," Lysander explains calmly.

"Well, get her out!" But Castiel doesn't wait for Lysander to take action. He drags Elena and Rachel out into the hall and pulls me along. "Stay out of our room!" He storms back inside and starts hooking up one of the electric guitars, his movements jerky and deliberate. For some reason, Lysander follows us out.

"Excuse Castiel," he says, his face expressionless. "He can tend to…overreact."

"It's okay," Lena says. "But we kinda ditched detention. It's about time we got back." Lena and Rachel turn down the hall, and I turn to follow them, but Lysander calls my name.

"Yeah?" I turn back around, my face getting hot again. Why does my name sound so much better when he says it?

"It would really mean a lot to Castiel and I if you didn't tell anyone we practice here. We're not really allowed. Promise?" I bite my lip and smile.

"Promise."

"Thanks. I'll see you in class." He disappears back into the room, his feet never making a sound. Without being fully in control of my actions, I run on my toes back to the door and press my ear against it. I can barely make out their voices inside, but barely is still something.

"Really, Lysander? _That's_ who you pick? Have I taught you nothing?"

"I did not _pick_ her. She simply has a beautiful voice."

"And beautiful hair, and beautiful eyes…"

"I've said just as much about many other girls. Rosalya has beautiful hair, for example. I most certainly did not _pick _her. And you're the one who's all over her friend."

"Yeah," Castiel admits. "She's cool, I guess."

"May we please just start? I'm tired of this conversation." Castiel strums a few chords on his guitar in response, and I'm tempted to listen in on their music, but Rachel drags me away.

"You've got to see this," she whispers. Elena is all the way down at the front of the school, staring out the front door. She's laughing so hard that tears are rolling down her cheeks, and when Rachel looks outside, she starts cracking up to. Elena presses my face against the window, and my jaw falls all the way down to my feet.

Mr. Faraize is in the courtyard with Aunt Jemma, running for dear life.

**Hope you guys liked it!**

**Carly's version of the song is on the blog, if anyone's interested, along with a surprise ;)**

**Tell me what you thought!**

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	8. Chapter 8

**Heeey! I don't have anything to say right now, so I'm just going to go ahead and start. I'm working on Homecoming for this chapter, so it might be a little jumpy with perspectives. But I hope you like!**

_Melanie Reed_

Carly, Rachel, and Elena come home giggling, with a very depressed Aunt Jemma in tow.

"He was totally into me!" she insists, pouting her lips and stomping loudly across the floor.

"No, Auntie, no he wasn't. You were scaring him," Carly corrects her. Jemma scowls at her and kicks off her pumps.

"I'm going to bed," she announces. She stomps upstairs to her room, but not without sticking her nose in the air with a giant "humph." The girls shake their heads and come down the hall into the family room.

"What's up with her?" I ask. All of the other girls are downstairs, but I stayed up here to work on some of my designs in quiet.

"Mr. Faraize doesn't like women who attack him during detention," Elena explains. My eyes pop open.

"Are you serious?"

"Totally serious," Rachel says, nodding gravely. "It was disturbing. And hysterical," she adds, bursting out laughing.

"And it turns out that Castiel and Lysander are a band," Elena tells me. "But we're not allowed to tell you where they practice."

"Why not?"

"Castiel would kill me."

"Oh, Lena, Castiel really likes you, by the way," Carly says. Elena's eyes light up.

"Really? How do you know?"

"I listened in on their conversation after they kicked us out," Carly admits. Her face starts turning pink, which usually means she feels guilty or nervous, and I wonder why.

"What did he say about me?" Elena asks excitedly.

"Well…not much, really. Lysander was upset with Castiel for assuming he liked someone, so he accused Castiel of being 'all over you' and he said that you were pretty cool."

"Ahhh!" Lena squeals. I laugh, because she doesn't usually squeal and it's always at really ridiculous things when she does. "I'm gonna ask him to Homecoming!" she says.

"Oh, when's that again?" I ask. I'd totally forgotten.

"Only two weeks," she replies. I've never seen her so happy, unless you count the time they decided to make her the top of the cheerleader pyramid.

"And I think we know who's going to ask Carly…" Rachel says suggestively, raising her eyebrows up and down. "Mr. Lysander sure seemed to go for you." Carly shakes her head no.

"No," she says. "I think he likes someone else."

"And who might that be?" I ask, taking a sip of my lemonade.

"Rosalya."

"WHAT?" I spit the lemonade out. "Are you serious?"

"I don't know. He said she had pretty hair!" Oh. I relax a little bit.

"Car, that doesn't mean anything! _ I_ think Rosalya has pretty hair, but that doesn't mean I want to date her! And besides, she's totally unavailable. She's dating Leigh."

"Leigh? Really? That guy from Oracle?" Rachel asks in surprise.

"Yeah. They're really cute together."

"Oh, that reminds me, you never told us if he liked your dresses," Lena says, grabbing a blanket and curling up on the couch.

"My dresses!" I remember, standing. "I was supposed to go over yesterday and I completely forgot!"

"Oh, I'm sure it's no problem, just go now," Rachel tells me.

"Jemma won't mind if I take her car?"

"Probably not. But I'd go now in case she decides she wants to buy the stock out of Ben & Jerry's in an hour or two," Carly answers.

"You're right. I'll be back in a little while," I say, rushing to put my coat on. I slip on my combat boots because they're what's lying out, and then I'm gone.

My heart is pounding the entire way to the mall. What if he's made too many changes to my designs? What if he's decided he doesn't like them? Or worst of all, what if he took Rosalya to another movie and I don't get to see him at all?

Turns out there was absolutely no reason to worry, because Leigh is there at the cash register, selling something to a girl I've seen from school. I don't know her name, and I don't even think she's a junior. But I'm finding that the town is so small, it's impossible not to know everyone's face.

"Hi, Leigh!"

"Oh, Melanie," he says. "I was expecting you yesterday."

"Yes, I'm sorry, I totally forgot," I apologize. "I had a lot of schoolwork to do."

"It's okay. Here are your designs." He reaches under the cash register and pulls out my notebook. "I think you should leave the ruffles on the mango. My brother liked it."

"You have a brother?"

"Yes, he's in your grade. His name is Lysander."

"Lysander's your brother!?" I shout in surprise. Goodness, he's just showing up everywhere, isn't he?

"You know him?" Leigh doesn't even seem to notice that I raised my voice.

"Not really. But thanks for looking at my designs; I'm glad you like them." I take the notebook and tuck it under my arm.

"Anytime. If you wanted, I could try and make one or two of them sometime." My heart skips a beat, and I find myself jumping up and down uncontrollably.

"Are you serious? That'd be the most amazing thing in the world!" I reach over the counter to give him a quick hug. "Thank you so much!"

"Leigh, you're still here!" Rosalya runs up and throws her arms around her boyfriend. I back away quickly, suddenly very self-conscious. "What was it you wanted to give me?" The happy couple doesn't even notice my presence. Leigh reaches into his pocket and pulls out a little box.

"I thought about what you said, Rosa," he begins, "and you're right. I'm sorry; I should show you how I feel more." He opens the box and Rosalya gasps. Inside is a beautiful white gold ring with a diamond rose. It's absolutely gorgeous. I'm almost jealous. Leigh takes a deep breath before saying, "I love you, Rosa."

"I love you, too, Leigh!" Rosalya holds out her hand and Leigh slips the gorgeous ring on her finger. She pecks him on the lips and he wraps his arms around her, burying his face in her pretty hair. Feeling like I'm invading their privacy, but also feeling kind of deserted, I slowly back up out of the shop and make my way back to the car.

For some reason, I start crying on the way home.

_Dahlia Hope_

When I get to school the next day, Ken is waiting for me at the front door, with his hands behind his back.

"Hey, buddy!" I say, wrapping my arm around his shoulder and giving him a squeeze. "Wassup?"

"Dahlia…" he begins, "I was wondering if…if…if…."

"If what, Ken?"

"Ifyouwouldmaybewanttobemydat etohomecomingagainthisyear?" Ken blurts out in one breath.

"I'm sorry, what?" A look of horror comes across his face.

"You don't want to go with me? B-but I thought…"

"Ken! I didn't understand you! What did you say?"

"Oh, I was just wondering if you maybe wanted to be my date to homecoming again this year," he repeats. His speech is still rushed, but at least I can understand him. He takes his hands out from behind his back and presents me with a pretty white rose. "Pweeeease?" he begs. I take the rose from him gladly and give him a big hug.

"'Course I will! I can't believe you even had to ask! But I'm glad you did," I add quickly, twirling the rose around in my hands. "Thanks." Ken's smile takes up half of his face.

"I'm so glad you want to go with me again!" he says, giddy with excitement. I laugh as he spins around in circles, causing his glasses to slide down his nose. I slide them back up playfully and if it's possible, his grin widens.

"Do you want to head to the garden, now?" I ask him. "Maybe Violette can tell us what to do with this rose so it doesn't dry out before school's over."

"Okay!"

When we get to the gardening club, Sammy is already there with Jade and Violette, working on weeding the garden.

"Hey, guys!" I say. "Need us to do anything?"

"You could water those flowers over there," Violette suggests, pointing to a row of hanging plants. They're not hanging anywhere yet, but Jade says he's going to put them on the balcony outside of the cafeteria to brighten the place up, and he wants them in peak condition before he does, since they're harder to water when they're up there. Ken and I get to work right away.

Jade forgave us for 'skipping out' when he found out that we had to help Moni catch the dog. I'm glad. Jade is really nice, but he wasn't very happy with us for that. I feel like he could be really passive aggressive if he wanted.

Today is Friday, and all Ken and I can talk about is the weekend. I'm probably going to be busy with homework and hanging out with my friends so Ken and I might not see each other, but it's an amazing feeling to have finished your first week of your junior year. It makes you feel so nostalgic to look around at all the freshman, and even the sophomores, knowing that in less than two years, you'll be blowing this joint and you'll be headed off to college or who knows where. I want to go to culinary school, but it seems like that would be really expensive.

It just amazes me how we've all grown up. It seems like only yesterday when Ken and I were in middle school, and he gave me a little pink plastic Barbie ring. Barbie and Ken. Me and him. I hadn't even met the girls yet, and I still have that ring.

"Hey, thanks, guys," Jade says coming over. We've just finished watering the plants. "I'm gonna go ahead and hang these up now. Sammy, you wanna come? I might need some help carrying them."

"Yeah, sure," Sammy says, standing from her place beside Violette. Jade hands her two of the plants and takes two for himself. They haul them out of the garden and inside the school to get to the balcony. We join Violette at her request and continue weeding the garden.

_Sammy Dark_

He asked me to help him! Me! Not Violette!

SAMMY. SHUT UP.

Jade doesn't say anything to me really as we hang up the plants, except for asking me to do something or to hand him a tool of some kind. When the plants are finally hung up, we stand back to admire our handiwork.

"I like it," I say. "You're right; it does brighten the place up." Not as much as his eyes…but who notices those things?

"I think so, too," he agrees. "They look nice."

"Mmm hmmm. Is there anything else we need to do?"

"No, not really. I think we're done for the day."

"Oh, okay then. Break time!" I plop down on one of the picnic tables on the balcony and cross my legs, admiring the view of the city. Jade laughs and sits down beside me. It's all I can do to not scoot over closer and rest my head on his shoulder.

"So how was your first week?" he asks. "Do you like school here?"

"Eh, it's alright," I reply. "It's a helluva lot better than my other school."

"So that's a good thing?"

"I would say so, yeah."

"So, I was wondering…"

"Mmm hmm?"

"Would you like to go to the Homecoming dance with me? You know, as friends?" Oh, as friends, huh? He almost had me passing out for a second there. But…as friends is better than nothing. And he actually asked me, so that must mean something.

HE ASKED ME! HE ASKED ME!

SAMMY….PLEASE GET A HOLD ON YOURSELF BEFORE YOU DO SOMETHING STUPID.

"Umm, sure," I say, keeping my voice as calm as physically possible. "That'd be cool I guess."

"Great." Jade stands up and plucks a little blue flower from one of the hanging plants and tucks it behind my ear again, just like he did on the first day. I feel like melting at his feet, but that would be ridiculous. I need to stop being ridiculous. A guy has never affected me this way; why start now?

But regardless, now I have a date to go with. Or, a friend. Yeah, a friend. If I just keep reminding myself that, it'll be okay.

But what am I going to tell the girls? I, Sammy Dark, of all people, have a date to the Homecoming dance. This is absolutely crazy. WHY DID I SAY YES!?

"We should go back and help Violette," I say softly, gazing up into his eyes.

"Right," he agrees, moving his hand away from my face. "Let's go."

_Carrie Knight_

We don't really do too much in basketball club, and the only person I actually like in it is Dajan. The other guys tend to avoid him, and he seems to appreciate the fact that I don't. He's a great opponent, and a really nice guy. He's not all egotistical and self-obsessed like a lot of jock guys I used to know last year. I couldn't stand any of them. But Dajan's different. I wouldn't go so far as to say I have a crush on him, but he's definitely a cool guy.

Right now Dajan and I are sitting on the bleachers after another rigorous game of Horse. We've played it many times, and it's become a very fast paced and challenging thing, which I think makes it fun.

"I have a big game tomorrow," he tells me. He plays on some fancy team out of town since Sweet Amoris has basically no athletic program.

"Oh, yeah? Against who?"

"That doesn't really matter. But our coach is sick and practice is cancelled tonight, so I was wondering if you'd mind sticking around after school with me to practice a little more? I know it's Friday, but…"

"I'd have to ask, but yeah, I'd love to." The bell rings for class and we stand up and start heading towards the door.

"Well, let me know, okay?"

"Yeah, I will."

I text Jemma and ask her if she can come get me a little later, and she says it's totally fine. I tell Dajan I can stay during my psychology class, and he seems really relieved. And I'm really excited.

By the time the afternoon comes, everyone rushes to the buses, ready to go home after the first week. I'm exhausted, and part of me wants to go home too, but I don't. I get to hang out with Dajan.

He's waiting for me when I get to the gym, dribbling around his favorite basketball and chucking it at the wall instead of into the baskets. That's how I know he's waiting.

"I'm here!" I announce, flinging my bag off to the side and scooping a ball out the cage. "You ready?"

"Yeah, but how about we just play with the one ball? You against me?"

"You're desperate to win, aren't you?" I joke. I beat him today at Horse, but I think he let me.

"Am I that transparent?" he jokes back. "But no, seriously, wanna give it a go?"

"Yeah, if you want I guess." I'm a little nervous, to be honest, he's so much taller than me and so much stronger. We're equal in non-contact games, but if it's him against me then I might as well forfeit right now. But I promised him I'd help practice, and I guess he thinks that playing against me is good practice. I should be flattered.

He checks the ball, and I steal it out of his hands, running towards the basket. He blocks my shot and starts dribbling around to the other side, but I knock it out of his hands before he has the opportunity. If I give him the opportunity, he'll make it on height alone. The game goes on like this for a while, the ball constantly changing possession and no one making any shots. Finally, out of utter desperation, when he tries to block my shot I throw him forcefully out of the way with my free arm. Taken aback, he staggers to the side, giving me a split second. I use that split second, and the ball swishes through the net. I shoot him a superior smile as he catches the rebound.

"Tricky," he comments. "But I haven't shown you all of _my_ tricks, yet."

"You have tricks?"

"You betcha, blondie," he says with a smile. I laugh at his nickname for me and chase after him, trying to block his next shot. I stand on my toes trying to keep him from shooting, but suddenly he stops dribbling, and the next thing I know, his lips are pressed against mine. Then, just as suddenly, they're gone. I open my eyes just in time to see him shoot the basketball over my head and hear it fall into the net.

"That's your trick?" I laugh. For some reason, I don't feel the slightest bit awkward about what just happened.

"Yup. Feel free to use it anytime." I break into a smile uncontrollably. I want to use his trick.

"Challenge accepted." I stand on my toes and kiss him again, wrapping my arms around his neck while he pulls me closer, his strong arms encircling my waist. I had never even thought about this being a possibility. And yet…it seems so right. So natural. I'd always imagined that I would be a nervous wreck after my first kiss, but this…this doesn't even feel new, somehow. It feels like something that always was.

_Elena Mercer_

"Should I do it?" Frankie's managed to track Castiel down on Facebook and persuaded him through a series of messages to friend her. I don't have a Facebook, and I don't really want one; I'd never use it, but Frankie told me I could "hack" her account and send a message to Castiel asking him to Homecoming. I don't know if I'm actually going to do it. I should probably wait a week and see if he asks me. According to Carly, he talks about me…

Okay. I'm really overthinking this. It's just a little message, right? Ten words? Less? Why is it so hard? I'm beginning to feel bad for guys, because they go through this panicky, doubtful feeling every time they want to ask a girl out. And let's face it; guys usually do most of the asking. And they also pay. And drive. And they have to get the girl flowers and everything…

Gosh. Being a guy must be tough. I don't think Castiel would get me flowers, though. He doesn't seem like the type.

"Yes, you should do it!" Frankie says encouragingly. "What's the worst thing that can happen?"

"Send his dog named Demon after me."

"Demon?"

"Demon."

"You want to date a guy who named his dog Demon?"

"Is there something wrong with that?"

"No," Frankie says quickly. "No, not at all. But if you're not going to send him a message, I promised my friend Dorito that I would get online and give him my email address. He lives in Washington D.C., which I think is pretty cool, so we're going to be email penpals."

"Okay, whatever," I sigh, staring at the screen. Then I realize what she just said. "Wait, hold on. Dorito?"

"I don't know his actual name," Frankie admits. "But he's a pretty cool guy."

"He's probably a forty-something year old stalker. You really shouldn't give him your email address."

"Relax! Contrary to popular belief, I am not a total idiot. I made a fake email address and a fake name."

"Oh, yeah? What is this fake name?"

"Xenophilia Corazon-Patrick."

"Xenophilia? Are you kidding?"

"No. The more unusual, the more believable."

"No, the more unusual, the more stupid!"

"Whatever. His name is _Dorito_. I'm pretty sure he's safe. Are you sending Castiel a note or not?"

"No," I decide finally. "I should ask him in person if I'm going to ask."

"Ahhh!" We hear Moni scream from upstairs, and her excited footsteps rushing down. "Ohmigosh, ohmigosh, ohmigosh!"

"Oooh, what happened?" I ask, reflexively jumping up and down. Moni's excitement is infectious.

"Well, you see, the principal was really happy that I found her dog and she went on a rant about how there are no decent and responsible kids at school who fix their mistakes, which is ridiculous because her dog getting lost was totally not my fault, but anyway," Monique pauses to take a deep breath, "she said that I seemed like the model student and asked me to be the student director of Beauty and the Beast!"

Now it's Frankie's turn to scream.

"OH MY FREAKING GOSH! Moni, that's amazing!"

"I know!" She gives Frankie a huge hug and gives me another. "It'll be so much fun! I get to help approve everything, even the cast!"

"Well, make sure to cast me as the lead," Frankie says, striking her best model pose. Monique laughs.

"I'm actually going to take this job seriously. I'm going to stay completely unbiased."

"Good for you," Frankie says with a smile. "That's absolutely fantastic, as long as your unbiased opinion likes me as Belle."

"Okay, we need to make a rule," Monique says. "No talking to me about the play until after the casting."

"Ugh, fine."

"Yay, thanks!" Monique is still on an adrenaline high from the news, so she prances around the room a few times before hopping back upstairs.

"That's so great for her," Frankie sighs. "It'll be so much fun. You should try out, maybe."

"Nah, I don't think so. I'm gonna be busy with cheer, remember?"

"Oh, yeah! Tryouts were yesterday morning, weren't they? How'd you do?"

"Pretty good. We find out who made the squad on Monday. But Amber and her friends were all there and they were pretty good, too." Frankie rolls her eyes.

"No, they suck at everything," she disagrees.

"Well, actually-"

"No, no, they suck. I must now converse with Dorito." Frankie sits down at her computer again and logs onto the chat room. I sign in exasperation and go upstairs. The girls are talking about going shopping for Homecoming, and Melanie says we should all go to Oracle. So, I'm getting the idea that we might all be heading out shopping pretty soon. Carly and Rachel, however, don't seem to be in on the fun. Rachel looks upset about something and is typing away on her little laptop, and Carly just seems out of it, scribbling in a little blue notebook, scribbling notes and then scratching them out.

"Whatcha guys doing?" I ask, skipping in and jumping on the couch next to Carly. Rachel glares at me from across the room, and goes back to whatever she's doing. Carly sits up and tosses her notebook and pen on the coffee table.

"I'm trying to come up with something," she says. "You know, for a song."

"Oh, yeah? Lysander's got you inspired, huh?" I say with a teasing smile.

"No, the complete opposite, actually," Carly sighs. "I was thinking about Lysander, and then I started thinking about Alex, and then I thought that I'm probably the only girl who writes music who hasn't written a song complaining about her ex-boyfriend. So I thought I should give it a try. And…it's just not working."

"So what I'm hearing is, you were thinking about Lysander and that got you thinking about your ex-_boyfriend_. Which means you want Lysander to be your _new_ boyfriend, right?"

"No, not necessarily. He was nice and all, but I don't really want to date someone who's so close to Castiel. It was more like a random train of thought that led me to Alex. It's weird."

"Okay, I won't push it," I say, giving up.

"Hey, guys! We're going to the mall in like fifteen minutes," Luzma calls from the kitchen. "You guys coming?"

"No!" Rachel shouts back sharply. Carly and I look at her in shock, and she seems to take note of her rude tone. "Sorry," she says. "I'm not in the greatest mood today, I guess. It'd be nice to have some quiet time." I guess that makes sense. Everyone can use quiet time at some point.

"Alright. We'll see you later then, I guess," I say. Rachel gives me a small smile and returns to her computer. The rest of us go back downstairs to get dressed and ready to leave.

_Rachel Biersack_

When everyone else is gone, I close my Word document that's filled with nothing but gibberish, and text German.

Me: hey ur the therapy queen, right?

German: thts me!

Me: rly need 2 talk. can u come ovr?

German: ok, b right there

Me: thx

It doesn't take German too long to get here, and she walks right inside without knocking. Aunt Jemma forgot to lock the door, I guess.

German looks very relaxed, wearing a pair of faded blue jeans and a t-shirt. It's still a little cold outside, but she's wearing her flip flops anyways.

"Hey," I say.

"Hey. Something wrong?"

"Well, yes and no." German cocks her head to the side in confusion, and I grab my own flip flops from the shoe closet and a light jacket from the coatrack. "Wanna go for a walk?" I ask.

"Okay," German shrugs. We step outside and start off down the street, no destination in mind. "So what'd you wanna talk about?"

"German, do you know Nathaniel?"

"The president? 'Course."

"What do you think of him?"

"I think he's an alright guy. I've never known him to be mean to anyone and he's pretty smart."

"Do you trust him?"

"Trust him? What do you mean?"

"I mean…do you think he's safe to be around?"

"Well…yeah. I can't think of anyone at Sweet Amoris that I would consider 'dangerous.' Not even Castiel. Why?"

"Well…umm…"

"Did he do something to you?"

"No! Not at all. I think he's great, it's just…" German stops walking and turns to face me, meeting my eyes with her blue ones.

"What?"

"Well, last year, I, umm…" I pause, tears welling up in my eyes. No. No, I am not going to cry. It's been almost a year; I should be over it, shouldn't I? I blink fast to dry the tears and look at German again. "Last year, I was raped about a week after the Homecoming dance." German gasps and both of her hands fly to her mouth.

"Oh my gosh, Rachel," she breathes. "I'm so sorry. Did you ever tell anyone?"

"No," I say, shaking my head. "Nathaniel guessed at it the other day, though. I freaked out when I was alone with him, because even though he's great…"

"You can't make yourself trust a boy again," German finishes my sentence, understanding what I mean. I nod and stare at my feet.

"Right."

"If you don't mind my asking, who was it? Someone you knew?"

"Oh, that's the worst part," I groan, running my hands through my hair. "It was Carly's old boyfriend. That's why I couldn't tell anyone." I didn't think it was possible for German to be more shocked, but apparently it is.

"Oh, Rachel," she murmurs, wrapping her arms around me in a comforting hug, "I'm so, so sorry. You've just kept it a secret this entire time? Does Carly know?" She pulls away and I shake my head, dashing away a tear that has managed to escape.

"No, she doesn't. And I haven't given other guys the time of day since then. But Nathaniel…"

"You like him, but you don't want to cheat him out of a real relationship because of what happened," German finishes. "I get it." I nod again.

"Right. And I don't know what to do about that."

"Hon, as insensitive as this sounds, if you want a real relationship you're going to have to put it behind you," German says, reaching for my hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Nathaniel wouldn't ever do something like that to you, especially since you say he knows. And while it's true that there are guys like that out there, there are also quite a lot that aren't. Take Tim, for example. He's not like that at all. He's kind and hardworking and respects my body and my space, and I love him."

"Well, it's great that you have that. But I don't and I never have, and I just don't think it works out that way for everyone."

"It doesn't," German agrees. "I'm lucky. But our relationship isn't one sided. I have to work at it, too. And if you want it to work out with Nathaniel, you're going to have to put some work into it. And if you both want it to work out bad enough, then I believe that it will." I think about her statement for a few moments, and eventually come to the conclusion that she's right.

"Thanks, German," I tell her, giving her another hug. "Hey, you wanna go shopping for Homecoming with me? I'm the only one who's out right now."

"Eh, I don't know," German says doubtfully. "I don't have the best fashion eye. And I don't really care for dresses."

"Please? What if I say you can wear your boots?" This coaxes a smile out of her, and she agrees.

"Fine. But nothing poofy."

"Nothing poofy," I agree.

"There's a little strip mall just a few blocks away," German says. "We might as well just go there instead of the big mall."

"Sounds good," I agree. It's a good thing I always keep my wallet in the inside pocket of this jacket.

I feel a lot better now. But there's still one thing bothering me.

"German? Should I ask Nathaniel to go to Homecoming with me?"

"If you want to take that step, go ahead," German replies, sifting through a rack of dresses. She tosses a pink one aside in disgust. "But I heard something about _him_ maybe wanting to ask _you."_

**Hope you liked it! Nothing on the blog this chapter, but the Homecoming outfits are done and the dance will be either the next chapter or the chapter after, so keep an eye out for those ;)**

**Tell me what you thought!**

**Luv yah, **

**Ava**


	9. Chapter 9

**Okay, I'm gonna try something new for this. Tell me if you like it or not, and be honest! **

**And this is a very long chapter, so…be warned :) The only reason I had time to do this was because I'm on Spring Break and pretty much get to do nothing all day, so…yay!**

_Nathaniel_

I see Rachel and her friends get off the bus from my vantage point on the bench right outside. I've been telling myself all weekend that I'm going to ask her to go to Homecoming with me. _All weekend._ Usually, when I spend all weekend trying to do something, it gets done. But this isn't working for me.

I've only ever really had one experience with dating, and that was with Melody last year. Except…it didn't really go so far as to be considered an actual experience. I said no when she asked me out.

Rachel's walking over this way now. Okay, it's now or never. I can do this.

"Hey, Rachel. Did you have a nice weekend?" I call. She waves goodbye to her friends and comes over to me, looking much happier than usual. I hope that's not because someone else already asked her.

"Yeah, it was okay," she says. "How was yours?"

"Pretty good. Hey, so listen, I was gonna ask you…" My mouth is suddenly completely dry, and I can't seem to formulate words. And now Rachel looks confused.

"Ask me what?" Oh shoot, her voice even sounds hopeful…I can't do this. Desperately, I search for an escape. I glance down at my notes to find another question to ask her.

"Do you, uh, know who the first dictator of Ancient Rome was? We've got that test today and I can't remember…"

"You mean Julius Caesar?" Rachel asks. Great, I blew it. She probably would've said no anyway, I mean, I know what she thinks of guys. I'm not so arrogant to believe that I'd be an exception.

"Yeah, that's it, thanks," I murmur. I feel my face growing red, so I let my hair fall in my eyes.

"Is there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

"No, that was all. Thanks, Rachel."

"Oh, um, okay. See you in class."

"Yeah, see you." Rachel walks away, and I lean over and put my head in my hands. I should get up and run after her. That's what they do in the movies. But this isn't a movie; this is real life, and I'm an utter and complete failure at everything. I'm halfway inclined to call my dad and inform him of my most recent failure; I'm sure he'd love to hear.

"Hello, brother, dear!" The sound of Amber's high pitched voice forces my head up.

"What do you want, Amber?" I ask.

"I just wanted to inform you that I've just been made Head Cheerleader! Now we both have important jobs in the school!" I don't bother to mention that Head Cheerleader isn't exactly an important job; that wouldn't be the best idea. And at this point, I could really use a good idea.

"That's great, Amber," I say, making my voice as enthusiastic as possible. "Did Charlotte and Li make it, too?"

"Li did. But Charlotte got beat out by that stupid Elena girl," Amber grumbles, crossing her arms. "I'm so upset that we won't get to do it together!"

"Well, maybe you can make friends with Elena."

"Don't be stupid, Nathaniel. She's an absolute nightmare."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well, first of all, she's always hanging around Cas-" Amber cuts herself off. "Nevermind. But I have to go to the meet this morning; it's either go or study like you, and that is not happening, so have fun being a nerd!" She flicks my shoulder in what's meant to be a playful gesture, but I flinch. She doesn't know how much it hurts when she does that. And not for the reasons she'd think.

_Castiel_

"Ugh, no. Get rid of that chord." I grab Lysander's pencil from his hand and furiously erase the markings on the paper.

"You know, I'd really like to get some studying done. We have that big test today on Rome," Lysander sighs. He takes his pencil back and rewrites the chord in. Well, then. I guess it's staying.

"I'm ditching."

"I was under the impression you _didn't_ want to get expelled."

"Oh, yeah? Well, maybe I do! I wouldn't be wasting my life in school, at least."

"Just because Debrah's not in school doesn't mean she doesn't still have to take classes at home." I growl at the mention of my ex and close the notebook on top of his hand.

"Go do your stupid studying, then."

"Thank you." He starts to gather his things, but then stops. "Castiel, do you know where I put my bag?"

"I have no idea," I reply, leaning against the bench.

"Maybe I should ask Carly if she's seen it," Lysander muses, watching Mouse and Elena studying across the yard. Man, everyone's freaking out about this test. No one's even going to their stupid clubs.

"Holy crap, Lysander. Why don't you just propose to her already?"

"I'm not sure if that would be appropriate, considering the fact that we've only spoken once or twice."

"And I bet you remember every single word that came out of her lips."

"Well…no."

"But you remember her song?"

"Of course. It was a beautiful song."

"Sung by a beautiful girl with a beautiful voice and beautiful hair and beautiful eyes…" I say in a mocking voice.

"Even you have to admit, she _is_ quite beautiful."

"Nah. I like her friend better; at least _she_ isn't a total wimp."

"Her friend has a name, and I'm positive you know what it is."

"Hey, boys!" We turn around to see Elena standing right in front of us, with Mouse hiding behind her. She manages to sneak a little smile at Lysander though, and I roll my eyes.

"What now?"

"As you might be aware, there is a dance happening next week," Elena informs me.

"I'm aware."

"I'd like you to go with me," Elena says bluntly. She doesn't hesitate for a moment. I cross my arms and stare her down.

"Do you really think I waste my time on school dances?" I ask her sharply. Elena crosses her arms in response.

"So…is that a no?"

"I didn't say that."

"Are you looking for trouble, or do you just not want to give me a straight answer?" Dang, she's hot.

"Fine. Since you're so desperate for a date, I suppose one night wouldn't kill anyone." I notice Lysander and Mouse can't seem to keep their eyes off of each other, and Elena shoots me a knowing glance. We know what to do about this.

"Carly, I wish you had a date, too…" Elena sighs, staring into space. "I'd hate to be the only one having any fun…"

"Yeah, Lysander. We'll have to find you someone to go with. I don't want you to feel all left out…." Elena's and my eyes meet as we simultaneously pretend to have the same idea.

"Hey!" Lena shouts. "Carly! You could go with Lysander!"

"Oh, yeah!" I agree. "That'd be fun, right Lys?" Mouse's face turns bright red, as predicted, and she tries to run, but I grab Lysander's sleeve and secure his arm around her shoulder, keeping her in place.

"Aww, you guys look so great together!" Elena swoons. Lysander removes his arm from Mouse's shoulders quickly and narrows his eyes slightly. Mouse wraps her arms around herself and stares at the ground in embarrassment, not saying a word.

"What's wrong, Mouse?" I tease her. "Lysander not good enough for you?" Lysander's eyes narrow just a fraction more, the difference so slight that only I would notice.

"N-no, it's not that…" she stammers.

"Oh, I understand," I say. "You're madly in love with _me."_

"Absolutely not!" Ah, so she can speak.

"Castiel…" Lysander warns.

"And you! Aren't you the one who said Carly was pretty?" Elena asks Lysander. "Or does Castiel actually have more than one friend?"

"Ha ha, very funny," I snap. It actually is kind of funny, mainly because she's pretty much dead on, but Lysander doesn't appear to agree. His head jerks towards me and his eyes narrow the rest of the way, silently screaming, "YOU TOLD HER!?" I shrug in response, and he shakes his head, annoyed and exasperated.

"So it's all settled, then," Elena says. She glances at me and smiles. "It'll be fun." She flips her hair over her shoulder and turns to leave, and I do the same. Without the hair flip, though. After a few steps, I realize that Lysander isn't following me, so I glance around just in time to see him press his lips to the back of Carly's hand, an odd expression on her face.

"Moron," I huff. I stalk away without waiting for him. He wanted to study, anyways.

_Luzma Alejandri-Cruz_

"I'm so excited about this directing thing!" Monique exclaims, dipping her paintbrush into the water and swirling it around. "I mean, I'm not exactly sure what it involves, but it should be fun, right?"

"Yeah, absolutely," I agree. I eye her painting enviously. "It's really not fair to be that good, you know," I complain. She smiles at the compliment.

"Thanks. I like yours too, though."

"Yeah, it's okay. I wish I had thought of a more interesting idea, though."

"Not all prompts inspire everyone," Monique shrugs. "And it was very specific. 'A dancer or many dancers in some form, painted in watercolor, with color accents.' Doesn't give you much wiggle room."

"That's true, I guess."

"Yeah. So, I'm actually a little nervous about the casting for the musical."

"Why?" I splash a little bit of color on my painting and look up at her.

"Well, Frankie, for example. What if she flops at her audition?"

"Have you ever known Frankie to not be the lead?"

"Well, no. That's the problem. We don't know the competition here. What if someone's better and I don't cast her as Belle, and then she thinks it's because I'm her best friend? Or vice versa?" I consider her problem and begin to see where she's coming from.

"I'd just have a talk with her beforehand about it," I say finally. "That seems like the most logical thing. Just tell her that you will cast her if you believe that she truly is best for the role, but you won't if she's not."

"And what about Carly? She might try out."

"Carly won't want to be the lead. Don't worry about it."

"What about Dahlia and Rachel?"

"They're trying out?" That surprises me. I can see Dahlia maybe, but Rachel? Not in a million years.

"I'm not sure. Nobody's sure other than Frankie. Frankie's over the top sure."

"Then don't worry about anyone except Frankie for now."

"Oh, Miss Rochester, that is simply gorgeous!" The nutty art teacher Ms. Nebula glides over and gazes over Monique's shoulder. "The passion! The color! My darling, you are a true artist!"

"Thanks!" Monique says appreciatively. "I'm almost done." She paints one final line, and then slides it to the side of the table. Ms. Nebula freaks out and bends closer to it, her frazzled hair barely a centimeter above the picture. Monique laughs nervously and slides the painting back in front of her to keep Ms. Nebula from touching it and smudging the still wet paint.

My cell phone buzzes in my back pocket, and I wait until Ms. Nebula has disappeared to look at it. Even then, I keep it hidden under the table. Apparently, electronics "interrupt the process, hinder creativity, and have a negative effect on the energy." Ms. Nebula's words; not mine. I'm not insane, thank you very much.

It's Dake. I'm still texting him off and on, but our messages have become fewer and farther between. It makes me a little sad, but I don't really need a boyfriend. Especially not one who lives a million miles away. But he's never failed to initiate a conversation. Or to call me beautiful, since that day.

Dake: hey gorgeous. how's life?

Me: ok. im sad you won't b here for homecoming tho

Dake: u dont have another date do u?

Me: nopeee

Dake: good. my uncle said i can come stay w/ him for a week at xmas

Me: yay! i miss u

Dake: i miss u too

It's true, I do miss him. I miss having someone who constantly made sure I felt special, and I think that's only natural. Who wouldn't? But at the same time, I'd be a little nervous if he were to come back. He's a player; I know that only too well. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have come up to me in the first place. He probably has a cute, blonde, Australian girlfriend, and if he came back, he'd be into Amber or something. Or I could develop really strong feelings for him, and then he'd just leave again.

In conclusion, the 'I miss you,' was true. The "Yay!" wasn't. But part of me _does_ want him to come back…

I need to figure out what I want.

When Monique and I leave the art room, I remember that everyone has a giant history test today, and I totally forgot to study. Great. And I have history next. Oh, well. I plaster a fake smile on my face and march proudly to the class.

"I'm ready to fail!" I announce to Dahlia. She smiles sympathetically as Dr. Anderson starts passing around scantrons.

"As long as you remember the Punic Wars and the Triumvirates, you'll be fine," she whispers.

"What the heck is a Triumvirate?" Dahlia pats my arm condescendingly.

"Do you know what the Ides of March are, at least?" she asks.

"Yeah, of course. It's that movie George Clooney directed. Ryan Gosling was in it. But what does that have to do with Rome?"

"Silence! The tests are out!" Dr. Anderson says, his voice somewhere between a call and a shout. "No talking during the test, keep your eyes on your own paper, cover your answers, and turn them in to me when you're done. Good luck!"

_Oh, shut up._

_Carly Neilson_

I can't believe it! The dance is finally here! We're all crowded in Aunt Jemma's massive bathroom, fighting over spots in front of the mirror to do our makeup and hair.

I'm so excited, but I'm so nervous. Last year, my homecoming was a disaster, with Alex and everything. This year I'm going with Lysander, who is a really great guy, but I just don't know very much about him other than the fact that he dresses like his brother, William Shakespeare, sings, and is best friends with Castiel, who I really can't decide about. He's rude, but it's in a playful way, not a mean one. I don't think he's trying to be mean; I just think he thinks I'm ridiculous. Lysander probably thinks so, too. But he still seems sweet, and for some reason I can't get him out of my head. Whenever I think for a moment that he hates me, I remind myself that he kissed my hand of his own free will. He didn't have to do that, and no other guy would have. He's so different from anyone I've ever known.

From what I understand, Melanie, Luzma, Monique, Frankie, and Rachel are all just going to go together since they don't have dates. Me, Elena, Carrie, Sammy, and Dahlia do. I can't believe I'm in the half that does. The guys are going to pick the five of us up separately, and Luzma is driving everyone else. She's the only one who's trustworthy enough to drive.

I'm dreading being alone in a car with Lysander. He barely talks! Will he just sit there and say nothing the entire ride?

Elena is sliding into her peep toe black heels when a car honks outside.

"That's probably Castiel," she says excitedly. Everyone laughs, knowing that she's right. Everybody else's dates would have come to the door. We cheer like six-year-olds as Elena rushes down the stairs as fast as she can without tripping. The rest of us are mostly ready, so we crowd around the door as she steps out. Sure enough, it's Castiel in the car, and from what I can see he's actually dressed up somewhat. He must really like her or something.

"Good luck, Lena! Have fun!" Frankie calls. Elena laughs and waves goodbye before climbing into the passenger seat of Castiel's car. He hits the gas and the car goes speeding down the road, definitely over the speed limit. I say a silent prayer that they get to the dance alive.

"Where is Elena!?" Aunt Jemma shrieks. She slides down the banister to get to the bottom quicker. A large camera hangs around her neck. "Did she leave already?"

"Well, Castiel didn't exactly come to the door," Rachel explains. "But they're gone."

"Didn't come to the door?" Auntie cries indignantly. "What kind of gentleman doesn't come to the door?"

"Castiel," we all reply in unison.

"Jinx!" Frankie shouts, and we all burst out laughing. "You all owe me a soda!"

The next guy to show up is Jade, Sammy's date. I haven't ever talked to Jade personally, but Sammy and Dahlia have mentioned him occasionally to me, and he seems like he must be a pretty nice guy. The green hair is a little off-putting at first, but Sammy was right, he does have amazing eyes. Not that it matters; they're going as friends.

He rings the doorbell like a decent date should, and Aunt Jemma pushes Sammy aside to open the door herself.

"Hello, sir!" she says. "Which of my lovely ladies will you be taking out this evening?"

"Sammy, ma'am. And my name is Jade." He holds out his hand and Jemma shakes it gladly.

"Charmed," she says, using a poorly rehearsed British accent. To his credit, Jade grins at her silliness, and extends his hand towards Sammy. She smiles and takes it gladly, stepping outside onto the porch.

"Bye, guys!" she calls. They start to head down the steps, but Jemma has a fit.

"No! No leaving without picture time! I already missed one of you!" Sammy turns around, her bright blue eyes wide.

"No, no pictures, Miss Jemma!" she says. "Maybe when we get back. _Maybe!"_ Jemma glances at Jade in desperation, but he just shrugs apologetically as Sammy drags him to his car. They get in and drive away at a much safer speed than Elena and Castiel.

Not five minutes later, Ken comes to the door. He looks like the most adorable eighth grader ever with his little tux, but he's junior like the rest of us, so I don't say anything. He grins widely at the sight of Dahlia.

"You are the most beautiful girl in the whole entire world," he says. It sounds rehearsed, but it's still so impossibly sweet. He offers her a small bouquet of pink roses and she smiles back.

"Thanks, Ken."

"Can I get pictures of _you_ two?" Jemma begs.

"Sure! I want to remember this night forever!" Ken says. He steps inside and takes Dahlia's hand, bringing her over to the wall. It's a little awkward at first, because since Ken's so short, he can't stand behind her with his arms around her waist like in traditional pictures without having his chin cut off. It's quite comical because Dahlia was even considerate enough to wear flats, but they make it work. Dahlia just slides her arm around his shoulder and he slides his around her waist. They smile as widely as possible for Jemma's camera, and she takes at least ten different shots of the same pose. When Dahlia starts to complain about her cheek twitching, Jemma finally ushers them out the door.

"They are so adorable," Melanie comments. We all giggle and nod in agreement, and then it's another wait for the next guy. My heart is pounding in anticipation, wondering if it will be Dajan or Lysander to knock on the door next. I don't know who I want it to be.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter because it's not my decision. And Dajan is the next to arrive. Carrie stands from her place on the stairs as Aunt Jemma opens the door. Dajan waves hello to all of us good-naturedly and steps inside. Carrie approaches him shyly, and surprises us all by standing on her toes to peck him on the lips. Aunt Jemma squeals with joy.

"I just love love!" she squeaks excitedly. "Okay, fairies, picture time!" I'm not sure what Dajan thinks of being called a fairy, but he handles it well. Without even waiting for instruction, Dajan gets behind Carrie and places his hands on her waist while she holds her hands in front of her. They both smile genuinely for a few pictures before they simultaneously decide that it's time to go. They hold hands on their way to Dajan's car, and the five girls without dates look on wistfully. As for me, I'm a nervous wreck.

The girls try to keep me upbeat by talking about how they'd probably play great songs with great dances like the Cha Cha Slide and Gangnam Style, but then I start to think about how they'll also play slow songs. Ugh, why is this so nerve-wracking!?

About ten minutes after Dajan and Carrie have left, the doorbell rings again, and I feel like I'm going to start hyperventilating. Aunt Jemma opens the door and reveals Lysander, standing with a box in his hand.

"Hello. I'm here to pick up Carly," Lysander says, nodding his head politely in Auntie's direction. His eyes flicker to me and his lips turn up in the tiniest smile.

"Okay! Pictures first, though!" Jemma replies. She waves Lysander inside and drags me down from my place next to Monique on the stairs. I felt halfway safe up there, but now I feel totally vulnerable.

Without saying a word, Lysander takes my hand and slides a white corsage onto my wrist. Everyone watches in tense silence, and only Auntie seems not to notice the awkwardness.

"Awww how sweet, a corsage! Aren't you the gentleman!" she coos, patting his arm affectionately. Now, you get behind her darling, that's right Car, you're in front. Okay, mister sir, I'm going to need you to put your hands on her waist, yes, right like that." My skin tingles under my dress when he touches me. "Okay, now Carly, dah-link, hold your hands just like Carrie did, alright, good. Now, smile!" I can't see Lysander, so I don't know if he's smiling or not. Afraid that I'll start blushing like crazy if I look up at my friends, I stare right at Aunt Jemma. Neither me nor Lysander move a muscle until Aunt Jemma gives us the okay.

"Alrighty, I'm done, my lovelies!" she says. "Go have fun!" I'm shocked when Lysander offers me his arm.

"M'lady?" he asks, giving me his tiny smile again. A chorus of "Awwwws" is heard from the stairs, and my face finally starts getting hot. That took longer than expected.

"My lord," I manage to reply, nodding my head and taking his arm. Auntie opens the door for us and we go out in the dark to his car. He lets go of my arm to open the door for me, and I step inside. He gets in the other side and starts the engine, and we're gone.

"You look lovely," he says while driving.

"Thanks," I reply. What else do I say? This is the awkward ride I was worried about! So, because this can't possibly get any worse, I decide to go ahead and address the elephant in the…car. "Look," I begin, "I'm really sorry about how all this worked out; you didn't have to agree to go with me. Elena and Castiel were way out of line…"

"Would you rather have gone with someone else?" he asks. Oh, no. He seems offended. Why do I always say the wrong thing?

"No…" I reply. "I just…okay, fine, I'm a little nervous about this whole thing. Actually, a lot nervous. I'll admit that I'm a little bit attracted to you, but that doesn't really change the fact that I don't know you at all and you really don't know me, does it?"

"No."

"I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings…" I say, realizing that I was probably just really rude.

"No, on the contrary actually, you've made me feel better," he says, surprising me. "Thank you for being honest, because now I know we feel the exact same way."

"Really?"

"Really. So, why don't we just use tonight to get to know each other?"

"Agreed," I sigh, my heart rate finally subsiding. Maybe this won't turn out so bad. "Do you mind if I ask you something, then?"

"Well, you just did," Lysander says. I can hear a smile in his voice. "But I suppose you can ask something else if you desire."

"What kind of music do you like?" It was the first thing that popped into my mind that I wanted to know, and he seems pleased I didn't ask something more personal. He tells me his favorite band is Imagine Dragons, which is crazy because they're my favorite, too. His favorite song by them is "Demons," which changes the conversation to Castiel's dog, which changes the conversation again to animals. His favorite animals are rabbits, which I find surprising but sweet, and he loves history. I do too, but he's more into the Victorian period and I'm obsessed with Ancient Rome. Needless to say, I did pretty well on that test last week. Lysander's grades are good, too. After a while, we start talking about him and Castiel's band.

"How long have you guys been doing this?" I ask.

"My brother and I moved here about six months ago," Lysander says. "I met Castiel at school. We started talking and decided to give it a try."

"Have you ever played anywhere?"

"No. It's really more of a hobby than anything."

"Oh. Well, in that case, do you think I could maybe play with you guys sometime?"

"We'll see," is his only response.

_Elena Mercer_

Wow, this place looks amazing! The SCA really outdid themselves. Apparently, the theme this year is old Hollywood, so there's a red carpet and red velvet rope leading into the gym, and marquees and spotlights everywhere on the dance floor. Castiel and I are reasonably early, and there's not a whole lot of people here yet, but the energy is still high. I ask Castiel if he wants to dance.

"What did I tell you? I'm not going to waste my time dancing."

"No, you said you weren't going to waste your time _at_ a school dance," I correct him. "And you're at the dance, so you're already wasting your time."

"I'm not dancing."

"Fine, but I am." I love to dance, thanks to my many years as a cheerleader. I'm not too bad, either. I stand on the edge of the dance floor and start dancing by myself, ignoring the weird stares I'm getting from everyone else. "I look really pathetic without you!" I shout at him over the music. He just nods in agreement and grins, which was totally not my intention when I said that. I stomp over and grab his hand, pulling him onto the floor.

"Hey! I told you, I'm not dancing!"

"And I told you that I _am,"_ I retort. I hold tight to his wrists and start swaying back and forth, and eventually he joins in. He never all out dances, but he does open up a little bit.

The dance floor fills up with couples as the night goes on, and Castiel never leaves my side. I didn't know there were this many people at Sweet Amoris, but I guess when you concentrate the entire student body into the gym, it fills up pretty fast. I don't see any of the other girls, which is kind of a shame, because I wanted to torture Carly a little bit more. I hope she's having a good time with Lysander, though. I guess I'll hear all about it tonight.

Castiel blatantly refuses to dance any of the slow songs with me, and I don't think I was really expecting him too. He may be my date, but he's also Castiel. And I feel like Castiel slow dancing would easily climb to the top of my Top Ten Most Disturbing Things list.

_Sammy Dark_

This is so much fun! I can't remember the last time I felt this free. At first, I was disappointed that Jade asked me to go as friends, but now I see that it was absolutely the right thing to do. Since we're 'just friends,' I'm not nervous about impressing him or anything, and he's not worried about impressing me. It's like we just completely skipped that stage of dating where everyone pretends that they're perfect. As friends, we get to be ourselves, and that's a pretty cool thing.

The energy on the dance floor is infectious, and Jade doesn't hesitate to drag me into the throng with him. He takes my wrists and twirls me around. My feet are killing me in these high heels, and I don't know what I was thinking. Melanie forced me into them, though. It's not my fault.

After about twenty minutes of nonstop jumping up and down, Jade tells me that if I want, I can go into the cafeteria and they'll give me a bag to put my shoes in. I glance around and see that just about all of the girls are barefoot.

"Well, what's the point of getting high heels to wear if you're just going to take them off?" I ask. It's more of a question to myself than to Jade, but he answers anyway.

"Don't ask me. I've never worn them."

"Are you sure?" I ask teasingly.

"Well…actually, when I was six I did go through my mom's shoes." I laugh, trying to picture six-year-old Jade dressed up in his mother's high heels. There's just one thing that doesn't quite add up.

"What's your natural hair color?"

"Blonde." There we go. Now I've got the picture. It's adorable. "So, are you going to take your shoes off?" Jade asks, looking down at my feet. I glance down with him. I really do like these shoes. A lot. But…he's right.

"Yes," I say decisively. "I'd like to have feet after tonight." Jade laughs and takes my hand so we don't lose each other while we wind through the crowd. I see Monique, Luzma, Rachel, Melanie and Frankie all standing around German and a tall boy who must be Tim. Hmm, I kind of wanted to meet him, too. Oh, well, maybe some other time.

When we come back, I'm surprised to see that they've started playing a slow song. I see Dahlia and Ken dancing alone in a corner, and Elena standing next to a very smug looking Castiel. I don't know where Carrie and Dajan or Carly and Lysander are.

"You wanna dance?" Jade asks me casually. I shrug in response, trying to hide my excitement. I bite my lip to keep from grinning like an idiot. We go back into the crowd, and since I don't really know what the heck I'm doing, Jade helps me out by taking my hands and putting them on his shoulders before settling his own around my waist. There doesn't seem to be much dancing involved in slow dancing; it seems like all you have to do is shift your weight back and forth, but it's kind of nice and the same time. I stare into space for most of the song before I finally decide to look at Jade. He smiles when we make eye contact.

"Has anyone ever told you," he begins, "that you have the most beautiful eyes in the world?" It's everything I can do to keep from laughing.

"Are you kidding? The first thing I noticed about _you _was your eyes."

"Seriously?" he chuckles. "Well, I guess it's a sign, then." He doesn't tell me what the sign says, but I can figure it out on my own.

_Carrie Knight_

"I think we should have a dance battle," I tell Dajan when we get to the dance.

"Oh, no thank you. I'd lose," Dajan laughs. "I can't dance to save my life."

"Me neither," I admit. "But you wanna give it a try? No dance battle, just dancing?"

"Hmmm…" Dajan thinks about this proposal for several seconds. "Can't we get something to drink first?"

"You are so pathetic!" I tease. "C'mon!" I take his hand and lead him past the crowd until we're right in front of the DJ. "Play the Cupid Shuffle!" I holler. I don't think the DJ actually hears me, but he must have read my lips, because the song to come on after this one is the Cupid Shuffle, the easiest line dance in the world. "Okay, Dajan," I say, raising my voice to be heard over the music, "This is very easy, okay? You just do what the guy tells you!" Dajan looks down at his feet and then back up at me in dismay.

"No weird twirling, right?" he asks, making a puppy dog face at me.

"Oh, stop that. You're state champion; you can do a little dance! When we're done we'll go find food, 'kay?"

"Okay," he sighs.

"Okay, just follow me." _To the right, to the right, to the right, to the right, to the left, to the left, to the left, to the left, now kick…._

Dajan catches on quickly, and before I know it, we're both totally rocking it.

"There you go!" I holler. He looks up from his feet and grins.

"Whaddya know? This is actually fun!"

"Of course it is!" I say as the song ends. "Okay, let's go."

The school is basically split into two parts for tonight; the gym and the cafeteria. The cafeteria is where most of the food is. Dajan and I sit at across from each other at a table, separated by a huge bowl of potato chips. Yeah, unhealthy stuff!

"So, what are you going to do when you get out of here?" Dajan asks taking a handful of chips and putting them on a napkin in front of him.

"Hmm, I don't know," I say thoughtfully, doing the same. "I had thought about being a psychologist, but I don't think I'd be very good at it."

"Why not?"

"Well, because I know how my brain works, but take Frankie for example. I don't know how well you know her, if at all, but I'd go insane if my job was to figure out how _her_ brain works."

"Frankie…was she the one with the neon shoes?"

"Yes."

"I can see where that could possibly be a problem." I laugh and pop a chip into my mouth.

"What about you? You still aiming for the NBA?"

"Well, yeah, of course," Dajan says. "But I've been thinking recently; I know I'm good, I may even be great, but there are lots of guys all over the country who are great too. I'm the best out here, but let's face it; we're pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So when I go to college, chances are I won't be the best anymore. I may not even be considered good next to all those other guys. And when the NBA teams come to pick guys for their teams, am I going to be good enough?"

"I think so," I say, "but you do have a point. It's just so ambiguous. Frankie has the same doubts about showbiz. She's never been in the ensemble, so obviously she's talented, but she's never gotten to test her skills in the big leagues, and there's a very big possibility that she won't ever get to. Sports are the same way."

"So what's Frankie doing about it?"

"Well, she loves it," I say simply, "so she's sticking with it. I think that's what you should do too. Have a backup plan, but go for what you really want." Dajan smiles down at his chips before meeting my eyes. He holds my gaze for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Okay."

_Carly Neilson_

After our nice little chat in the car, things between Lysander and me have become a million times less awkward. He doesn't really want to dance, but I don't either, so it's okay. Now, when the Cha Cha Slide comes on, that's a little bit of a different story. I love line dances. But he doesn't, so I happen to see Luzma among the dancers and join her for the song. As soon as it's over I go back to Lysander.

"That was fun," I say breathlessly. "Why don't you like to dance?"

"I find that physical activities such as dancing don't really suit me," he explains softly. His voice is so quiet I have to make him repeat it, which he seems to find amusing. Everything is going great until they decide to play a slow song. _Wake Me Up_, by Ed Sheeran, to be exact. Really? I'm beginning to believe that the universe hates me.

But, wait. Lysander doesn't like to dance. He won't ask me to dance. Whew, I'm safe.

"May I have this dance?" Well, I was almost safe.

"I thought you didn't like dancing?" I ask, confused.

"It would be a shame for us not to share a dance since this is, in fact, a school dance, and besides, not much movement is required for one like this."

"Oh, um, okay." I'm glad that the lights are dim so that he can't see my face getting red again. Suddenly, all the awkwardness that we got rid of in the car comes crashing back like a tsunami. We both know how slow dances work. The girl puts her arms around the guy's neck, and he puts his around her waist, and they stand close together and look into each other's eyes under either a kiss happens or the girl leans her head against the guy's chest. Or, sometimes, if the couple is feeling especially romantic, the girl will lean her head against his chest first, and then he'll lift up her head and kiss her. Nothing like that is going to happen tonight.

We stand several inches apart, connected only by our hands, swaying back and forth. He lifts up his arm and I twirl under it, and when I come back around we're closer, holding our hands at our shoulders, slowly bringing them inward until we're separated by our hands at our chests, his large hands completely covering my small ones. The only thing we do traditionally is look at each other, but his face is completely expressionless, and I'm determined to make mine the same.

Suddenly, Lysander breaks eye contact and narrows his eyes, looking somewhere over my shoulder. We stop dancing and drop our hands.

"What is it?" I ask, scared to look behind me.

"Castiel and your friend," he murmurs. "We'd better go somewhere else before they see us." He turns on his heel and weaves his way through the crowd of couples. His strides are long, and I have a hard time keeping up. He seems to relax only when we're on the complete opposite side of the gym, and by then the song is pretty much over.

_Maybe I fell in love when you woke me up._

_Rachel Biersack_

We pretty much follow Lysander's car all the way to the dance, since we left right after them.

"Did you see her face?" Frankie laughs. She hasn't been able to stop cracking up about Carly and Lysander the entire ride.

"If I didn't know better, Frankie, I'd call you jealous," Monique teases. Frankie folds her arms and huffs.

"No! Besides, I'm sure I'll end up dating whoever plays the Beast, since Monique's going to make sure I get to be Belle, right, Moni?"

"We'll talk about that later," Monique says.

"I really wish I had a date this year," Melanie sighs, staring out the window.

"What, with Shakespeare? He's too old for you, Mel," Luzma says from the driver's seat.

"No he's not. He's dating Rosalya and she's the exact same age as us," Melanie disagrees.

"Nathaniel was this close to asking me to go with him!" I say, putting a millimeter between my thumb and index finger. "This close! Then he went all academic on me talking about Caesar."

"I don't like anyone," Monique says. "No one's really caught my eye."

"Yeah, me neither," Frankie says, a defensive tone still in her voice. "What about you, Luz? What's your excuse?"

"There just wasn't anyone I wanted to go with," Luzma shrugs.

"Objection!" Monique calls. "You wanted to go with Mr. Dakota!"

"Well, yes, I would've liked to go with Dake, but he doesn't even live on this continent, so that wasn't going to work out."

"Have you heard from him recently?" Melanie asks, leaning over to tighten the buckle on her heels.

"He said he might get to come out for Christmas," Luzma tells us.

"Well, we'll have to make sure to have lots of mistletoe, then," I say, raising an eyebrow. Luzma rolls our eyes and tells us to stop talking to her so that she doesn't crash.

The school is beginning to get busy when we get there, even though we're only fifteen minutes late. Homecoming has always been one of those "come and go as you please," kind of things though, so I'm okay with it.

We walk into the gym together, a tightly knit group. A lot of girls aren't wearing shoes, but I don't really want to take mine off, so I don't. I will if I start to get blisters or something, but by then it won't really matter.

"Hey, look, there's German and her boyfriend!" Luzma says, pointing to the far side of the gym. That area is relatively empty, but German and a massive, dark-haired guy are leaning against the wall, talking. It must be her boyfriend, because they're standing way too close to each other to be just friends.

"Let's go say hi!" Monique says. We all agree and head over to German. She turns her head in our direction as we walk up and grins.

"Oh, hey guys! Uh, this is Tim!" she says, gesturing towards the man beside her. "Tim, this is Luzma, Rachel, Melanie, Monique, and Frankie."

"Nice to meet you," he says pleasantly, nodding in our direction. "I've heard a lot about you guys." His voice is heavily accented, but I can't tell where from. His eyes linger on me for several moments longer than necessary, and I look at German in confusion. Did she…? No, she wouldn't.

"Hey, German, can I ask you something?" I ask her. She shrugs.

"Yeah, okay."

"Okay, come over here." I reach for her arm and take her out of earshot, which isn't too far because the music is too loud. She stumbles over and almost trips in her heels.

"I can't believe you made me buy these," she laughs, slipping out of her shoes and picking them up. "What did you want to ask?"

"Did you tell your boyfriend what I told you last week?"

"No!"

"Then why is he looking at me like that?"

"Well, he asked where I was that day, because he had stopped by my house and I wasn't there, and I said I was out with you. And then we started talking, and I told him it happened, but I didn't tell him the details!"

"German! How could you, that was private! What about patient-therapist confidentiality?"

"Tim is my therapist _partner!"_ German says defensively. "And he doesn't judge you or anything; it wasn't your fault! I just told him that I told you to try and move past it." Well, I still wish she hadn't told him, but I guess it doesn't make much of a difference if I _am_ trying to move on.

"It doesn't matter, anyways," I tell her. "Nathaniel didn't even ask me."

"Well, I'd hope not. If he did, he wouldn't be a very good date, leaving you. But I saw him over there somewhere, why don't you go talk to him?" She gestures towards the back of the gym, where it's mostly empty.

"I don't know…we haven't really talked too much lately."

"Give it a shot! I know he wanted to ask you, Melody told me so."

"Melody?"

"Yes, Melody. And Melody knows pretty much everything there is to know about Nathaniel. He wanted to ask you. So go on!"

"Okay," I say confidently, standing up straighter. "Okay, I'll go talk to him."

I walk across the dance floor alone while German returns to Tim and the girls. Nathaniel isn't hard to find; he looks pretty bored sitting against the wall, with a clipboard and a stack of papers, as per the usual.

"Hey!" I say, plopping down on a chair next to him. Confidence. Just be confident. "You don't seem to be having much fun."

"No," he sighs. "I only came because I had to."

"Well, why would you have to?"

"I'm in the student council; the president, no less. I have to go to the Homecoming dance or the principal will reassign my post."

"Well, that seems a little harsh," I note.

"Eh, it makes sense I guess," he shrugs. "I mean, if I don't want to be involved in school activities, then I shouldn't be the president."

"Hmm. That's a pretty good point."

"So are you here with anyone?" he asks me.

"Nope, just my friends." Confidence. C'mon, I can do this. "I'd have liked to maybe have come with you, though." Nathaniel looks up suddenly.

"Are you being serious?"

"Well, um, yes?" Nathaniel's posture changes. He seems happier all of the sudden.

"I had thought about asking you, you know. I might have…I might have chickened out."

"Hmm. Caesar got your tongue?"

"Yeah," Nathaniel chuckles. "You could tell?"

"Yes…"

"Look, I'm sorry," Nathaniel says, standing up and turning towards me. "I just…I've never asked a girl out before, and I was just…just scared. And I mean, you told me you don't like to be around guys all that much, and…"

"Hey, hey, it's okay," I say, standing and taking his hand. "I wouldn't have asked me either if I knew what you know about me."

"Rachel…"

"Yeah, Nathaniel?"

"I was wondering…" He pauses, uncertain of himself.

"It's okay," I say softly. "I don't bite." He chuckles and runs a hand through his golden hair.

"Do you, um, want to dance?"

"Ummm, yes," I say. His entire face lights up.

"Really?"

"Unless it's opposite day, then yeah," I say, laughing. "C'mon."

We dance a few songs together before "Wake Me Up" comes on. Nathaniel's a really awkward dancer, but he's absolutely hysterical. I feel lucky, because I know that I'm probably one of about a handful of people who has ever seen his carefree side. But at the same time, I can tell that he has a secret. And I can tell because I know what people act like when they have a secret.

But it doesn't really matter right now. If he ever wants to tell me what it is, he will. It's not like he's obligated to, anyways.

I love this song. Carly and Frankie and Elena like to sing it sometimes, mainly to play with dynamics and tight chords, but it's definitely a song meant to be sang by a guy. If I had to pick one song to slow dance to with the guy of me dreams, it would be this one. It just has such a sense of intimacy about it that can automatically make it personal to any couple, even though the scenarios described in the song are very specific. I don't know…there's just something about it.

And I don't know for sure if Nathaniel is the guy of my dreams, but I'm willing to give it a shot. I reach for his hand, but he pulls it away.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

"Nathaniel, I don't know why you think I don't like you!" I cry, reaching out and grabbing his hand. "Yes, I get nervous, but I'm trying to get over it! And I need you to help me." This seems to reassure him a bit.

"Okay. Just…please don't run away?" he begs. I grin and nod.

"I'm not going anywhere."

I reach up and put my hands gently on his shoulders, and he puts his on my waist tentatively, barely touching. He's still scared. My skin tingles a little bit at his touch, reminded of that night, but I look up into his golden eyes and it's gone. Maybe German was right. Maybe this can work. I just have to make myself believe that it can.

_Melanie Reed_

Turns out this Tim characters is quite interesting. Frankie keeps bombarding him with questions while Luzma, Monique and I look on. He's very polite, despite Frankie's slight obnoxiousness, and doesn't act like he wants her to stop talking, even though I'm absolutely positive that he does.

"What's your favorite color?"

"Green. What's yours?"

"Rainbow! Do you like pizza?"

"Sure."

"Can I see your tattoo?"

"How do you know I have a tattoo?"

"It might have came up," German says sheepishly. Tim looks down at her and grins, sliding his arm around her shoulder. Awwww. They seem so happy together. I glance behind me and am greeted by the sight of Leigh and Rosalya dancing together. Rosalya stands on her toes to kiss him and I scowl, despite the fact that they can't see me.

I don't know why I'm acting like this. It's ridiculous, really.

But at the same time, what does Leigh see in her? She's annoying and whiny, and completely obsessive. Do guys like to be obsessed over? Maybe Leigh does. He's lucky, then, because he's got two to pick from. Too bad he's already made the decision.

When a slow song comes on, Tim politely excuses himself and asks German if she wants to dance. German happily agrees and he leads her closer to the middle of the floor. They wrap their arms around each other like it's the most casual thing in the world, and he pecks her sweetly on the lips. Ugh. Don't you just love happy couples?

I need to not be so bitter.

"Tim seems nice," Luzma observes. "Frankie, I think you probably freaked him out though."

"I'm sorry!" Frankie says, raising her hands in surrender. "But when you've got a girl who talks nonstop about her perfect boyfriend and then you get an opportunity to actually talk to said boyfriend, it's pretty darn exciting!"

"I think he seems great," Monique says. "They make an awesome couple."

"Yeah, well we shouldn't just stand here and watch them dance; that's really weird," I say. Everyone agrees with me, and we decide to take a lap around the gym until the song ends. When it's over, the DJ promptly turns on "Gangnam Style." We knew he'd have to at some point, even though it's not really a popular song anymore. The dance is just so flippin' fun.

"Ohmigosh! We have to go find German!" Frankie shouts. She dashes through the crowd, delighted to find that German and Tim are exactly where we left them. Tim is grinning and holding on hand over his ear.

"I really hate this song," he explains to us quickly.

"Aw, come on, at least do the dance!" Luzma says. She crosses her wrists in front of her and demonstrates. "See? Fun!"

We spend the rest of the time either doing the dance, or laughing about Tim's attempts to. And by eleven o'clock, German and Tim decide it's time to go.

"Yeah, we should probably get going, too," I say, allowing myself one more glance over at Rosalya and Leigh. It seems that Lysander and Carly have hunted them down. How sweet; two brothers and their dates.

Ugh, what is wrong with me?

"It was great meeting you guys," Tim says with a smile. Frankie asks one more time to see his tattoo, but German insists that they have to go; Rachel made her wear heels and she's about to die. "Maybe next time," he says. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you all again."

"Don't you be getting all flirty now," German teases, kicking his leg.

"Of course not," he chuckles, kissing her again.

"Bye guys! See you on Monday!" German calls. She wraps her arm around Tim's as they head out.

"Okay, I'm exhausted. Let's find Rachel and go," Monique suggests. We all agree. Rachel is talking to Nathaniel in the cafeteria, and we drag her away. Nathaniel seems to be in quite a good mood, which is nice to see. Rachel says she'll see him in school, and we leave, heading for Aunt Jemma's car.

"That was fun," Luzma says as we pull away. Everyone agrees except for Frankie, and the only reason she doesn't reply is that she's fast asleep, leaning against the passenger seat window.

_Dahlia Hope_

"Are you ready to go, Dahlia?" Ken asks me. He's exhausted, poor guy.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

"Okay." Ken smiles and takes my hand to lead me to his dad's car. He _told_ me it was his dad's anyways. It's a nice car. Mercedes-Benz. Fancy, fancy. He opens the door for me like the perfect gentleman and I climb in. He gets in on the other side and starts driving.

"Thanks for taking me, Ken," I say. "I had a lot of fun."

"Really? I'm so happy that you did! I did too!" Ken has been excited beyond belief all night.

"Yeah, I did. We should hang out more often, like, you know, outside of school."

"Yeah! That'd be great!"

We talk nonstop going home. Ken is so easy to talk to; I can tell him anything. I don't really have any deep dark secrets to share right now, but if I did, I could totally tell him.

"Thanks again, Ken, really," I say as we pull up to the house. He just grins and walks me to the door.

"Um, Dahlia?"

"Hmm?" To my immense surprise, Ken bends down on one knee and pulls a tiny box from his jacket pocket. My hand flies to my chest automatically. Surely he's not…we're only seventeen! Oh gosh, what will I say? He opens the box, revealing a beautiful silver ring, two halves connected by the infinity figure eightish symbol.

"It's a promise ring," he explains. "Dahlia, you're the smartest, kindest, most gorgeous girl in the world. Would you make me the happiest man in the world and say you'll be my girlfriend?" My heart melts. Is it possible for anyone to be sweeter than him? Unable to speak, I nod quickly and hold out my hand. His grin has never been wider than when he slides the ring on my finger. He stands up and I throw my arms around his neck, planting a huge kiss on his cheek. His face turns red, but he hugs me back.

"I love it," I tell him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he manages.

"I'll see you at school, okay, boyfriend?"

"Can't wait, girlfriend!" He waits until I've gone inside to leave the porch, and I run upstairs to Aunt Jemma's bedroom since she has the outward facing window to watch my boyfriend leave.

Boyfriend. I will never be able to get used to that word. I stare into space for several minutes when I see Aunt Jemma's car drive up. Ooh! The girls are home! And I've got news!

It's already past eleven, but we're going to be up all night.

**Wow. That was long. Over 9,000 words; that has to be some kind of record. Oh well, I wanted to fit the entire dance into one chapter, and there was a lot going on. And I've got a long author's note, too. **

**Okay, number one. All of the Homecoming outfits are on the blog, on their own post. I couldn't get them all on one post; Polyvore wouldn't allow it. I also have Monique and Luzma's watercolors up. Now, I don't want anyone getting mad at me if I didn't get their person's style exactly right, so I'm going to tell you how I did it. While I did occasionally refer back to the profiles, I made the outfits to fit the characters I imagine in my head while I write. I think you guys will like their outfits, but I just say that as a warning. **

**Second, I'm really curious, so I put another poll on my profile for which couple is your favorite so far. Frankie and Monique, I'm sorry that Armin and Alexy haven't come yet. I'm working on it, I promise :) Oh, and don't vote for your own! Very important!  
**

**Third, this was a really long chapter and I've literally been writing all day, which I love to do, but it's not going to stay like that. Expect a couple days before the next one's up, as I have quite a few things planned for the next few days. **

**Okay, now that that's done, I hope you liked the chapter! Tell me what you thought!**

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	10. Chapter 10

**Yay, I'm glad you guys liked the last chapter! It was so much fun to write. **

**Nuffin' else to say. Enjoy!**

_Monique Rochester_

"Dahlia! You're already home?" Dahlia is rushing down the stairs as we walk in the door.

"Yeah, I just got back. I had so much fun! What about you guys?"

"I. Am. Tired," Frankie says wearily. "I'm going to bed." True to her word, Frankie slides off her high heels and goes downstairs without another word.

"Well, that's out of character," Luzma observes. "Anyway, how'd your date go, Dahlia?"

"Perfect!" Dahlia swoons. "Ken is just _so sweet!_ And look!" She holds out her left hand, and we gather around closer to peer at her new ring.

"Does that mean…?" I wonder aloud.

"Yes! I'm his girlfriend now! He asked me like, five minutes ago, right before he left!"

"Aww, that's great!" Melanie says, reaching up to give Dahlia a hug. "I'm so proud of you!"

"And all that time you spent talking about how you were just friends and 'didn't really like him!'" Rachel adds with a smile. Dahlia is too happy to take any offense, however. She just looks down at the ring and twirls it around her finger a few times.

"Are you the only one back?" I ask her. Dahlia nods.

"Yeah. I don't know where Jemma is, but I haven't seen her."

"She probably went to hunt down Mr. Faraize," Luzma mutters, eliciting giggles from everyone.

"Oh, it looks like someone else is back," Dahlia says, looking out the window. We all turn around and look outside as two figures step out of a car.

"Looks like Sammy," Melanie says. We decide that it would be rude to spy on everyone, so we go upstairs to Jemma's bathroom again to scrub off our makeup and soak our feet. I was smart not to wear heels, and so was Dahlia, but everyone else is practically dying.

Sammy comes upstairs to find us a few minutes later.

"Hey, guys," she says happily. "How'd your night go?"

"Well, we met German's boyfriend, he's pretty cool, Dahlia and Ken are now official, and I got to dance with Nathaniel, so, pretty good," Rachel summarizes quickly. "What about you?"

"It was fun."

"C'mon, Sammy, details!" I beg.

"Jade and I had a good time. We talked, we danced, and it was fun. There's nothing else to say, really."

"Ugh, fine."

When Carrie comes home, she says pretty much the same thing. When Elena comes home, she says that she had a lot of fun, surprisingly, even though Castiel wouldn't dance with her. She does, however, tell us that Lysander's car was right behind hers, so we all rush to the top of the stairs and watch the scene below as quietly as possible. Not much happens really; but we can see them through the window standing outside talking for a few minutes before Carly seems to say that she needs to go inside. In response, Lysander takes her hands in his and presses her fingertips to his lips, just like the princes in old fairytale movies. Carly looks down, probably because she's blushing, and ducks inside. She doesn't see us. As Lysander walks away, she leans against the door and watches him go.

"Hi, Carly!" Luzma finally shouts, ruining the moment. Carly jumps and whips around, looking like she's just seen a ghost.

"Oh my gosh!" she says, holding a hand to her heart. "You guys are so mean!"

"Ah, no we're not," I say, waving my hand. "Did you have fun?"

"Yeah, Lysander was fine," she says, climbing the staircase slowly.

"From the looks of it, he was more than fine," Elena says, a sly grin growing on her face. "But it's okay. No one else will tell us anything, either. And I can always ask Castiel."

"I don't know if Lysander will tell anything to Castiel…"

"You never know. I have a feeling Castiel can get anything out of anybody if he wants to," Elena teases her.

"What'd he get out of you, then?" Rachel asks.

"He didn't really ask me anything. He thought my parents were cops, though," Elena replies. "Something about asking a lot of questions…I don't know."

We talk for a while longer before finally deciding to go to sleep at around two in the morning. We don't do anything the next day, but the day after it's time to go back to school.

"Miss Rochester!" the principal greets me as I walk in. "I have someone very important to introduce to you. It seems Mr. Faraize has dropped out of directing the musical for unknown reasons."

"Oh? So who's going to be the director?"

"You!" she says happily.

"Just me?" I ask, shocked. I didn't sign up to direct the musical, just to help out…

"No, no, of course not! That'd be ridiculous! However, we have a pair of new students today, and one of them expressed interest in helping out. So, I've decided to let you two be co-directors!"

"Oh, okay!" I say, relieved. "Who's the other person?" The principal looks around, confused.

"Well, he was standing right here…" she mutters. "Alexy!"

"Hey girl!" A boy emerges from around the corner, wearing brightly colored clothes and headphones around his neck. His hair is dyed a bright blue, and he has the same color contacts that Jemma has. "I'm Alexy!" He grins widely at me and waves.

"Uh, hey, I'm Monique," I reply back, startled by his outgoingness.

"So I guess we get to direct a play? That'll be fun, right?"

"Yeah, it should be," I say, smiling. "Have you done anything like it before?" Alexy shakes his head violently.

"Nope! But I'm really excited." Well, he seems fun. But we'll have to do a lot of research, seeing as I've never done anything like it before either.

"Well, I'll let you two talk," the principal says. "Alexy, have you and your brother finished your registration?" Alexy's smile falters.

"Um…no?" The principal scowls at him, as if it should've been obvious.

"I can help him out, ma'am," I tell the principal. "We can talk while we work on that." She relaxes again, probably happy that she doesn't have to do any work.

"Thank you, Miss Rochester," she says. "Alexy, don't give the poor dear too much trouble, now."

"'Course not," Alexy says, winking at me. The principal rolls her eyes and walks away. "So, what do we have to do for registration?" Alexy asks.

"Well, first, we should probably find your brother," I tell him. "What grades are you guys in?"

"We're both juniors."

"Both of you?" Did Alexy get held back or something?

"Well, yeah, we're twins," Alexy explains. Ah…that makes so much more sense.

"Oh, cool!" I say. "Is he going to help out with the musical as well?"

"No," Alexy says, frowning. "He doesn't like that kind of thing. I could force him to figure out the lights and sound machines, though," he adds, brightening up. "I'm useless with technology!" I chuckle and hold the door open for him as we walk inside the school.

"Do you know where he went?" I ask.

"No…" Alexy whines. "But he'd better show up soon; he promised we could go shopping!" I laugh to myself. He likes shopping? That's slightly unusual. This Alexy is certainly a…colorful character. No pun intended.

_Frankie Roland_

I don't want to go to clubs today; I'm still exhausted from Homecoming. So I decide to steal Lysander and Castiel's bench and IM my friend Dorito from my fake email. His email is fake too, because his name is not Dorito.

Xenophilia: Whatcha doing?

Dorito: Trying to find my idiot brother; we just transferred schools and I have no idea what we're supposed to do.

Xenophilia: Don't you have classes in the morning?

Dorito: No, this school is weird. Everyone has a free period in the morning.

Xenophilia: Really? Mine too!

Dorito: Are you serious? That's awesome! Where do you go?

Xenophilia: My school's called Sweet Amoris.

It probably wasn't a great idea to tell him the name of my school, but if he is a creepy stalker, we have drills for that kind of thing. Besides, the school is so small he probably wouldn't be able to find it on the internet. Or on land, for that matter.

Dorito: Wait…you go to Sweet Amoris?

Apparently he knows what it is. Surprising.

Xenophilia: Yep, why?

Dorito: That's where my brother and I just transferred to!

OH MY GOSH! Dorito goes to my school!

Xenophilia: Are you kidding? Where are you?

Dorito: I don't know! I'm totally lost. There are lots of flowers and stuff out here, though…

The garden club! I stand up and race across the courtyard to the gate to the garden club. Sammy is in here with Jade and Violette, and so is a dark haired, blue eyed boy who's leaning against the wall of the school, a shocked expression on his face.

He doesn't look anything like a Dorito.

"Hey!" I call. "Are you Dorito?" The boy looks up, and his eyes open wide when they land on me.

"Xenophilia?" he asks in disbelief.

"My name's Frankie, actually," I say, cracking up. Elena was right; it does sound stupid, especially when he says it. His blue eyes light up.

"This is so cool!" he says. "My name's Armin. And sorry to be rude, but do you know how to get out of here? I don't like to be outside."

"The uh, doors are literally right there…" I reply, pointing in the general direction of the school's entrance.

"Oh, great," Armin says, relieved. "Have you seen my brother? I don't think we've finished our registration."

"Mr. Rainbow?" I inquire. Armin grins.

"Yeah! You remember that?"

"Of course! It was, by far, the strangest online experience ever."

"Ah, yeah, it probably was," he chuckles. "Hey, I really want to talk to you, but it'll have to wait, okay? I really have to find my brother so we can get our registration done."

"Oh, okay. Well, it was nice talking to you, Dorito!" Armin laughs and makes his way inside. I plop down next to Sammy grinning like an idiot.

"Who was that?" she asks.

"That was Dorito! I've been chatting with him online for several weeks now, and he just moved here!"

"Wow, that's a weird coincidence," Sammy laughs.

"His brother is really nice, Alexy, I think his name is," Violette tells us, a small smile on her lips.

"Do you know where he is?" I ask her. Why didn't she speak up earlier when Armin was still here?

"He was in here looking for Armin, but then the principal came to get him. Something about the musical, I think," she says.

"The musical?!" Is Dorito going to be helping too? That would be so much fun!

"Yeah. She said that he could be co-director with Monique if he wanted, and he said that it might be fun."

"Ohmigosh!" Without waiting for any more information, I jump up and run towards the entrance in search of Dorito, Alexy, or Monique. Armin had said something about registration, so maybe they're with Nathaniel. I burst into the student council room, and sure enough, they're all there.

"Hi Frankie!" Monique says cheerfully. "This is Alexy and Armin, they're new. Alexy's going to be co-director with me for Beast, isn't that awesome?"

"Yeah, that's cool, Moni," I say. Alexy grins and gives me a happy wave.

"Here are your forms, guys," Nathaniel says, handing Armin and Alexy each a form. "So, just that, fifteen bucks apiece, and then you should go ahead and get your photo id's taken from the store around the block."

"Sounds good, dude!" Alexy says, sitting on top of a desk and taking out a purple ink pen.

"Here, Frankie, we should probably get going," Monique says, coming over to me and tugging on my shirt.

"Okay, bye guys! I'll talk to you later I guess, Armin." Armin smiles at me and nods while Alexy waves wildly again.

"Later, girlies!" he calls. Nathaniel asks him to please keep his voice down, and Monique and I close the door behind us.

"How do you know Armin?" Monique asks me.

"It's really crazy, but we actually met online!"

"Really? That's Dorito?" Monique looks back at the boys through the door.

"Yep, that's him!"

_Elena Mercer_

Today is the first day of cheer practice. I'm really happy that I made the squad. Of course, I would've liked to be Head Cheerleader, but Amber was actually very good. She's also very bossy.

The cheerleader uniforms are pink and white; the school's colors. I giggle to myself, imagining the reaction that boys get when they tell people they go to a school called Sweet Amoris, where the mascot is a smiling cupcake and the colors are pink and white. I'd probably want to shoot myself. Not really, but you know.

"Hello, Elena!" Amber screeches when she sees me. She prances over to me in her cheerleader uniform, the Asian girl Li trailing behind her. "How was your weekend?" She sounds like she's trying too hard to be nice.

"It was fine, thanks," I reply simply. "How was yours?" Amber clears her throat dramatically.

"I'm sorry. Let me rephrase. Did you have fun at the Homecoming dance?" I smile at the memory of the dance.

"Yeah, it was great. I went with Castiel, and-"

"Excuse me?" Amber asks, her eyes narrowing. "Can you repeat that last part?"

"I went with Castiel?" Amber throws her head back laughing, and Li follows suit.

"Why would he possibly want to go with you?" Amber laughs. She seems slightly upset.

"I don't know," I shrug. "We get along." Amber looks like she wants to bite my head off, but Li whispers something in her ear and she relaxes.

"Whatever. Don't expect it to last," she tells me. "What about your other friend? The girl in the white dress? I saw her slow dancing with my brother."

"Who, Rachel? Yeah, I think she danced with Nathaniel, why?"

"You can tell her to stay away from him," Amber snaps. "I don't want any annoying girls hanging around our house, and my brother doesn't want a girlfriend." Does she even hear herself? She really shouldn't be complaining about annoying girls…

"How do you know what Nathaniel wants?" I retort, putting my hands on my hips.

"Well he said no when Melody asked him out last year," Amber says. "So clearly, he doesn't want a relationship."

"Did you ever think that maybe he was just waiting for someone he actually wanted to date?"

"What, like how Castiel wants to date you? _As if_, I mean, look at yourself," she huffs. I'm about to come up with a comeback when she turns around and claps her hands above her head. "Okay girls! Get into position!" I scramble into position with the other girls, frowning. I can't believe that Amber is going to ruin cheer team for me.

_Lysander_

I've had this idea for a song growing in the back of my mind for quite some time now, but I'm still not sure what I really think of it. I haven't even shown it to Castiel yet; it's hidden in the very back of my notebook. I'm not sure that he'd even like it. It isn't exactly written in the style of the Winged Skulls. But even so, I don't have the music yet. As of now, it's really more of a poem. It doesn't really seem like a song in the first place though, so maybe it'll stay that way.

"Hey, man," Castiel says, dropping his bag on the ground next to our bench. "You finish that song yet?"

"No, I forgot," I reply, flipping backwards in the book to the song we've been working on together. We've got everything except for the bridge, and ideas keep escaping us. It's quite frustrating.

"Lys, get on board!" Castiel says, irritated. "We haven't had a new song in ages!"

"I'm very surprised that you're not interrogating me about the dance," I say, slightly amused. And it's true that that was what I had been expecting when he approached me. We're not staying after school today; Leigh asked me to come home instead for once. I'm not sure why, but Leigh asks very little of me, so it's the least I can do. But it's not like we need that song done today.

"Well, I was going to save those questions for another time…" Castiel says. "I was going to ask you and Mouse together."

"Yes, because we're always together." I really shouldn't have brought this up.

"Well, no, but I'm sure Elena and I could've figured something out."

"Ah, yes, Elena. How was she?"

"Fine," Castiel huffs.

"I don't understand why you expect me to tell you all about my date, and yet you refuse to tell me anything about yours. You at least danced with her, I hope?"

"No," Castiel says, grinning. "But you did, didn't you? I never thought I'd see the day when Lysander would _dance _with a girl."

"Lest you forget, it's your fault I went with her."

"Nah, it was mostly Elena's fault. I'd take it up with her," Castiel tells me.

"Mr. Castiel!" the principal's ear splitting shriek pierces the air. Castiel looks up and scowls at her. She looks angry. "You were absent again on Friday," she accuses. He nods and crosses his arms, leaning back into the bench.

"What're you gonna do about it?" he challenges, smirking.

"Well," she begins indignantly, "it seems there were some complications about getting you to sign your note last time, so Nathaniel suggested I find an alternative."

"And you do everything Natty boy says, don't you?" Castiel mutters, not making eye contact. The principal bristles.

"Young man, you ditch your classes on a daily basis, you refuse to join a club…" the principal proceeds to list the things Castiel has gotten in trouble for. Going on the roof, smoking in the courtyard… "So," she finishes, "I've decided to require you to participate in the musical. If you don't, you shall be expelled from Sweet Amoris. You too, Mr. Lysander. You two look far too guilty just sitting here every morning." She storms away, leaving Castiel and I speechless. The musical? Is she serious? It was slightly funny when it was only Castiel, but now that I have to as well, it just seems ridiculous.

"That was quite unexpected," I finally manage to say. I don't think Castiel has ever been angrier, though.

"I think I'm going to go have a little talk with Nathaniel," Castiel growls standing up. "You finish that song." He storms away, every move he makes sharp and deliberate. I consider following him, but Nathaniel would never accept help from me, and Castiel's right, I do need to finish the song. Right now, though, all I can hear are the shouts from the cheerleaders in the field behind me. Maybe the garden will be quieter.

There's actually no one in the garden right now, so I'm lucky. There's a little stone bench concealed by a bush, so I decide to sit there. No one will interrupt me if I can't be seen.

I'm not there for ten minutes before I'm interrupted again.

"Lysander!" …Carly? How'd she find me here? I slam the notebook shut and stand to face her, not letting my surprise show, or the fact that I'm secretly very pleased to see her.

"Carly," I say, nodding in her direction. "Is something wrong?"

"Your brother's out in the courtyard," she tells me. "He said he and Rosalya had a fight about something." That's news…maybe that's why Leigh wants me home this evening. He tends to freak out about Rosalya. The last time they had a fight, which wasn't too long ago, he bought her a diamond ring.

"Really? That worries me," I say.

"Yeah…" Carly sighs. She runs a hand through her hair and looks at me. "Anyways, I told him I'd try and think of a way to help him out, but I don't know Rosalya that well. Do you have any ideas?"

"Well, you're a girl," I say. "Wouldn't you have better ideas than me?"

"Different girls like different things," Carly shrugs. Hmmm, okay. What would Rosalya like?

"Do you know what their fight was about?" I ask Carly.

"Yeah, um, something about Leigh not showing his feelings enough." Oh, is that all? That's easy then.

"I could write her a poem," I suggest. "We could pretend that Leigh wrote it; I think she might like that."

"Oh, that's a great idea!" Carly exclaims. "Do you have time now?"

"Sure, it won't take long." I tear a sheet of paper out of my notebook and sit back down on the stone bench. Carly comes around and sits down next to me, looking over my shoulder, and suddenly all I can think about is the vanilla scent of her hair. How can I write a love poem when I'm distracted by her presence? Then it hits me. I'll just rewrite the lyrics from my secret song. I copy Leigh's scrawling script as best as I can, then hand it to Carly. She reads it out loud.

"My love, I have tried with all my being  
to grasp a form comparable to thine own,  
but nothing seems worthy.

"I know now why Shakespeare could not  
compare his love to a summer's day.  
It would be a crime to denounce the beauty  
of such a creature as thee,  
to simply cast away the precision  
God had placed in forging you.

"Each facet of your being  
whether it physical or spiritual  
is an ensnarement  
from which there is no release.  
But I do not wish release.  
I wish to stay entrapped forever.  
With you for all eternity.  
Our hearts, always as one."

I tweaked some of the words as I wrote them, but Carly doesn't seem to notice the strange parts. She looks up at me, her big brown eyes sparkling.

"That's beautiful," she whispers. "How'd you write it so fast?"

"The written word comes easily to me," I tell her, allowing myself a small smile at the compliment. She doesn't know that it was already written, or that dancing with her, of all things, was the inspiration.

"Well, thank you," Carly says, standing and facing me. "It's really nice of you to help Leigh out."

"It's also quite refreshing to see a girl do something for someone other than herself," I say. Carly blushes and looks down at her feet.

"I didn't really have anything I was doing anyways…" she mutters.

"Well, I'm sure Leigh and Rosalya will appreciate it," I say honestly. She glances up, confused.

"You aren't going to come with me? You know, to give it to him? Tell him you wrote it?"

"You can tell him well enough yourself," I say, smiling at her perplexed expression. "I promised Castiel I would finish a song, and I really do need to work on it."

"Oh, okay. Well, thanks again." To my immense surprise, she leans down and plants a split second kiss on my cheek. "See you later." She walks away quickly without making eye contact, and I reopen my notebook. Writing the song has suddenly become a very conscious decision.

_Melanie Reed_

The book club members are supposed to be reading "Life of Pi." I feel like it would be better appreciated outside, since that's where most of the story takes place, so I'm surprised to find Castiel and Lysander's usual bench unoccupied. Turns out, with the tree hanging right above it to provide shade from the sun, it's the perfect place. No wonder they like sitting here.

"Leigh!" I'm startled out of my book by Carly's voice shouting across the courtyard. Leigh? What is Leigh doing here? I look up from my book to see Carly running across the courtyard from the garden with a piece of paper in her hand, right up to…yes, it's Leigh. What the…? I stand up and cross over to them. Carly is showing Leigh the piece of paper, and he's reading it intently.

"Hey, something up?" I ask, watching their concerned expressions.

"I had a fight with Rosalya…" Leigh says, still reading the paper. His voice sounds far away. "Carly here is trying to help me out." When he finishes reading, he looks up at Carly. "That's very nice," he says. "I didn't know you were a poet."

"I, uh, actually got Lysander to write it," Carly tells him. "But yeah, it's really beautiful."

"What is it?" I peer over Leigh's shoulder at the piece of paper and skim it. It's a poem. A love poem, no less.

"You can pretend you wrote it," Carly says to Leigh. "Do you want to give it to her?"

"I'm not a student here," he says, shaking his head. "I'm not allowed to go inside the school, and Rosa won't come out."

"Oh, I don't know where she went…" Carly sighs, biting her lip and twirling her hair around her finger. "Sorry."

"I saw her somewhere," I speak up. "I could bring it to her." Leigh smiles.

"Really? Thanks, Melanie."

"Yeah, no prob." I take the poem and go inside. I have other plans, though. Very controversial plans.

When Leigh gave Rosalya that ring, it made me…feel something. Something I hadn't even realized was there before. All of the sudden, I realized that I wanted that ring to be for me. Not in an "I'm so great and deserve a diamond ring" way but in an "I really wish Leigh felt that way about me" way.

I don't even know why they're together, really. She's constantly giving him a hard time, it seems, and he just acts like her own personal slave. I wonder if Rosalya really sees how lucky she is to have him, and I wonder if Leigh knows that he deserves better. He deserves more.

So, even though I know it's wrong and I'm probably going to regret it, I need to get them to break up for good. But the first order of business is getting rid of this poem.

I slip into an empty classroom and tear up Lysander's poem. Looking at the shredded pieces, though, I feel really bad, because he probably worked hard on it, so I gather them together and put them in my bag, telling myself I'll tape it back up later, mostly to make myself feel better about what I'm doing.

I need to hurry up and get this done before that nasty feeling in the pit of my stomach becomes too strong to ignore.

I pull out another piece of paper from my bag and copy the style of Lysander's poem, rewording it to sound insulting, trying to match Lysander's handwriting. Rosalya will never go back to Leigh when she reads it.

Once the 'poem' is done, I fold it neatly and exit the classroom to find Rosalya. It's not very hard to find her, because girls who are having boyfriend problems are traditionally in the corner alone or with a friend, crying and trying to figure out what to do. Rosalya is alone, sitting back in the corner behind the stairs, next to the door to the room where Lysander and Castiel go to practice. I wonder if she's in on their little secret.

"Rosalya? Are you okay?" I approach her slowly, trying to appear as sympathetic as possible.

"Well…no," she manages, stroking her long hair. "Not really. I had a fight with Leigh and Carly went to go talk to him, but she hasn't come back…"

"She had to go do something," I lie quickly. "But she did talk to Leigh. Apparently he wrote this for you, I'm not sure what it is." I hand her the poem and she opens it hopefully. Her eyes skim the page, and her face gradually darkens.

"That's…that's awful," she stammers, tears welling up in her eyes. "I can't believe I didn't know that's how he really felt! C-can you tell him…" her voice fades away.

"Tell him what?" I ask gently. I feel kinda bad, now. I didn't know she'd be so upset.

"Tell him I never want to see him again," she says finally.

"Oh, Rosa, I'm so sorry," I say, wrapping my arms around her neck in a comforting hug. She smiles sadly.

"It's okay. I don't want to date a guy like that anyways," she says, dashing away a tear with the back of her hand. "Thanks, though."

I can't bring myself to say you're welcome.

_Rachel Biersack_

"JUST ACCEPT YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES AND YOU WOULDN'T HAVE THIS PROBLEM!"

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID! I DON'T SEE YOU ACCEPTING YOUR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THAT!"

"THAT'S BECAUSE I DIDN'T _DO_ ANYTHING!"

"_LIAR!"_

Angry shouts in the hall draw people out of their classrooms and clubs to see what's going on. There's a circle of students outside of my classroom, but I don't really want to see what's going on until I hear an anonymous shout from the crowd.

"Get him, Nathaniel!"

Oh my gosh. I get up out of my seat and bolt towards the door, shoving my way through the onlookers. Why has no one made an attempt to stop them?

When I get to the inside of the circle, I gasp in shock as Castiel throws Nathaniel against a locker. Nathaniel's blue tie is on the ground, and his white shirt is unbuttoned halfway. He eyes find me in the crowd, and he looks so helpless. He's not going to hurt Castiel; I'm not even sure if he could. Castiel is furious for some reason, and he's not holding anything back.

I have to stop this. Acting purely on adrenaline, I run up to them and shove Castiel aside, shielding Nathaniel with my body.

"Leave him alone!" I shout. My distraction gives Nathaniel a moment to get up, and I feel his hands on my shoulders.

"Rachel, just leave it," he whispers. He's completely out of breath. "You can't reason with him." Apparently, though, that's not the case. Castiel looks completely taken aback by my standing up for Nathaniel. Standing up to him. He growls at Nathaniel and narrows his eyes, but in the end he just turns on his heels and shoves his way out of the circle. Everyone turns to watch him storm down the hall.

"Are you okay?" I say finally, turning back to Nathaniel. He nods weakly.

"Yeah. Thanks." The crowd dissipates quickly now that the excitement is over, but I stay with Nathaniel as he sinks to the floor.

"What was he so mad about?" I ask softly, sitting next to him. Nathaniel laughs in spite of himself.

"Castiel had a girlfriend last year; loved her to death. The thing was, his girlfriend went around flirting with other guys. Castiel came into the student council room one day looking for her, and found her with me. Let's just say he got the situation backwards. Now, even me telling him to do something as silly as sign a note or do the musical gets him all worked up."

"What happened to his girlfriend?"

"Her music career took off, so she dumped him and left school."

"Haven't you ever tried to tell him what really happened?"

"I already told you; he was in love with that girl. In his eyes, she could do no wrong."

"Well, that's stupid," I grumble, leaning against the lockers.

"Castiel is not the sharpest knife in the shed."

"No, he's not, I guess," I giggle. Poor Elena, though. I wonder if she knows about this mysterious girlfriend of Castiel's.

Nathaniel groans as he stands up, rolling his shoulders back and forth. I didn't really see the fight, but he'll probably be sore for a good few days. I hand him his tie while he buttons up his shirt the rest of the way.

"Thanks for stopping him, Rachel," Nathaniel says again as he turns to go back down to the student council room. I reply with a small smile, and he heads down the hall. I go back to the classroom so I can finish studying before the bell rings. I wonder if I should tell Elena that story. Probably not, I decide. If Castiel wants her to know, he'll tell her himself. Probably.

**Yay, I finally got Armin and Alexy in there! Told you I would :)**

**Hope you liked it, and please tell me what you thought!**

**Quick disclaimer: the poem Lysander wrote is called "An Entrapment" and was written by Anthony Kolos. I suck at poetry.**

**Luv yah,**

**Ava**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hey guys! Thanks for all your reviews! I'm typing in the car right now; it's quite fun.**

**Hope you like this chapter! We're finally getting into Beauty and the Beast; I'm so excited! But this chapter might be a little sad…oh, well, I hope you like it anyways!**

_Leigh_

I'm sitting outside, waiting for Melanie to come back. All of the students keep on giving me odd stares, possibly because of my attire, and possibly because I'm not a student, but I barely take notice. I'm so scared about Rosa. What if she won't come back to me? What happens then?

I wish Lysander would come out here. I need someone to talk to, to take my mind off of things. But I haven't seen him anywhere. I really should've asked Carly where she found him, but she ran off to her choir practice before I thought about it.

When was the last time I was such a nervous wreck? I love Rosa so much; why can't she see that? Just because I have a hard time expressing my feelings verbally doesn't mean they're not there.

"Hi, Leigh." My head jerks up at the sound of Melanie's voice.

"Did she talk to you? Did she like Lysander's poem?" I ask hopefully. Melanie breaks eye contact and glances back at the door.

"Well…um…"

"Melanie?"

"She figured out that Lysander wrote it, and…."

"And what?" I ask, a desperate tone in my voice. "What'd she say?" My heart is slowly sinking down into my stomach as I realize what I've done in sending her a poem written by my little brother. Rosa knows I can't write, and she knows that Lysander can. How could I have been so stupid?

"She…uh…" Melanie sits down beside me slowly and takes my hand in hers; a comforting gesture. "Leigh…she told me that she doesn't want to see you again," Melanie says quickly. Then, slower, "I'm so sorry." Oh, no. No, this can't be happening. My head falls into my hands, and I draw in a shaking breath. I just can't believe it.

"What exactly did she say?" I ask Melanie.

"Just that," Melanie replies softly. "She told me she never wanted to see you again." Melanie almost sounds like she's crying. I look up at her as a salty tear slides down my own cheek.

"I loved her," I whisper. Melanie looks like she's about to break down, but I'm too upset to wonder why.

"I know," she whispers back. "I know you did." She puts her arm around my shoulders and leans her head against my shoulder.

"Thank you for trying, Melanie," I say, trying to think of reasons to stay happy. Why can't I find any?

"I'm sorry," is all she says. Hmm, there's an idea.

"Hey, do you want to come over tonight?" I ask her. She takes her arm out from around my shoulder and gives me a quizzical look.

"Leigh…"

"No, not like that," I say quickly, reading her mind. "Just to, you know, hang out? Lysander's coming home, and you could invite some of your friends if you wanted. We could have a…a fashion show," I say, allowing myself to smile at the thought. I do have a surprise for her. I was planning on showing her under different circumstances, but today will work out just fine.

"Leigh, I don't know…" Melanie says, hesitant. "Don't you want some…you know…time?"

"This'll help me," I promise. "I shouldn't dwell on it. It wasn't meant to be." Who am I kidding? It _was _meant to be. Rosa was my forever. I guess…I guess I wasn't hers, though. This will be good for me. It will. All I have to do is plaster a smile on my face for the first twenty minutes, and then it'll come naturally. I'll forget all about Rosa. When Melanie smiles, I almost do.

"Okay. Okay, I'll ask them." She gives me another quick hug and I scribble my address on a slip of paper, which she tucks into the back pocket of her jeans.

"Around five?" I ask.

"Sounds good. See you then," she smiles. As I watch her leave, I force myself to stop thinking about Rosa. I can't let myself dwell on this; I'll never be happy if I do.

_Dahlia Hope_

Ken refused to go to garden club this morning. Instead, he dragged me up onto the roof of the school.

"I didn't even know you knew about this place," I say, taking his hand and squeezing it. We walk over to the edge and look out over the tiny town. "It's very romantic."

"Yeah," he agrees. "I overheard Castiel talking about it." His voice doesn't sound as happy today as it usually does. I know Ken almost as well as I know myself; something's wrong.

"Ken?" I ask. "What's up?" Ken stares out at the group of cheerleaders practicing in the field.

"Do you know Amber?" he asks me. I nod, finding her easily in the crowd of pink and white. She's the one bossing everyone around. All the girls surround her, and when she pushes out of the crowd, she makes a point of shoving who I think is Elena aside. Poor darling.

"Yeah, what about her?"

"She stole my money again."

"Ken! You've got to stand up to her! Come on, we'll go right now. She can't just-"

"Dahlia," Ken says softly, not moving, "it doesn't really matter anymore."

"Of course it matters! She can't just go around stealing from people! We'll go talk to Nathaniel about it."

"No, I mean, it matters, but there's really no point in talking to her about it, Dahli-chan."

"What, why?"

"Because…" he takes my hands in his and runs his thumb back and forth over the promise ring he gave me. "I'm moving again."

"WHAT?! No! What the heck are you talking about, you can't move, you just moved _here!"_

"I know…I know…but my dad…he found out that Amber's been bullying me and I haven't been doing anything about it. And you know how he is, Dahlia…" It's true. Ken's dad is quite possibly the most terrifying man I've ever laid eyes on. He was in the military, I think, and stands at over six feet with muscles to rival Thor's. It's no secret that he wishes Ken was more like him. I know where Ken's going.

"Ken…Ken no…" I feel tears welling up in my eyes. _Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry._

"He's sending me to military school tomorrow," Ken says. And then he breaks, tears escaping his eyes and sliding out from under his glasses. I start crying, too, because he's crying, and before I know it we're both sobbing into each other's shoulders.

"When are you leaving?" I choke out.

"A few minutes," he replies.

"WHAT?!" I shriek, pulling away from him. "A few minutes? As in, today?!" He nods sadly.

"Right now, actually. My dad's waiting. He just let me come to say goodbye."

"Ken!" I wrap my arms around his neck again and he holds me close.

"I love you, Dahli-chan," he says. I let out another sob and squeeze him tighter.

"I-I love you, too," I manage. It's really pathetic how I'm just now realizing it myself. "So much! I love you so much, Ken, you can't go! Not now! Not after…" I feel the weight of his ring on my finger. _Not after it all finally worked out… _

"Here." He reaches into his green backpack and pulls out a blue gift bag, which he hands to me. "Something to remember me by."

"Ken! You're not seriously leaving right now, are you?" He nods again, another tear sliding down his face and off the tip of his nose.

"I'm r-really gonna miss you," he says. "Don't forget about me, okay?"

"Ken!" When did he get so much braver than me? He almost seems resigned to this fate. But…I guess it makes sense. We can't change his father's mind; I don't think it's physically possible. He gives me one more giant hug, and then he's gone.

I plop down on the floor and open the bag he gave me. My fingers brush against something soft and I pull the object out of the bag. My heart melts instantly. It's a little teddy bear. A little bear with a white t-shirt adorned with a pink heart that says "I love you." Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, Ken. I hold the bear to my chest and bury my face in its soft fur. I sit there way past the bell.

_Monique Rochester_

"Do you know anything about music?" I ask Alexy. We're sitting by ourselves at the end of a lunch table, scribbling notes in the scripts that the principal gave us for the musical.

"Nope, sorry dah-link," he says. "You?"

"No…" I sigh and throw my pen down on the table. "This is ridiculous. How are we supposed to teach the cast the music if neither of us can read it?" Alexy blows a strand of blue hair out of his face and considers the problem. I giggle, because even his serious face is comical.

"Excuse me? You two are directing the musical, correct?" a soft, monotonous voice asks.

"Yes, sir!" Alexy says, looking up at the two guys who have approached our table. Castiel and Lysander, actually.

"I'm surprised you two are taking any interest," I laugh, looking up as well. Castiel rolls his eyes and grumbles.

"We've been ordered to help out," he explains tersely.

"Ordered? By who?" Alexy asks.

"The principal," he snaps, glaring at Alexy. Alexy looks back at me and crosses his eyes, spinning his finger around to indicate that Castiel is, well, not mentally healthy.

"Oh, stop it," I tease, tugging on the sleeve of his jacket. Alexy laughs and turns his attention back to Castiel and Lysander.

"Well, do either of you read music?" he asks.

"We both do," Lysander tells us.

"You both sing?" I ask in surprise.

"Singing?" Castiel says. "Oh, no, then. Lysander does that."

"Awesomeness! You cool with being the music director, then, dude?" Alexy asks Lysander, grinning ear to ear. Lysander nods slowly.

"I guess that would be alright, if there's nothing else," he says. I scribble his name down in my notebook under the world 'music.'

"What about you, dude? What can you do?" Alexy asks Castiel.

"I can do a helluva lot more than you," Castiel replies snidely. Alexy frowns, and I take over.

"Well, Alexy, you said Armin can do everything technological, right?" Alexy nods. "Okay…" I skim the list. "Aunt Jemma's doing costumes, Lysander's doing the music, we said we might be able to get Elena on the piano…I think we're all set, Castiel. Looks like the only thing left is the cast."

"I don't want to do that," Castiel says bluntly.

"Hey, it's not my fault that you get in trouble a lot," I shrug. "We don't want you in the cast either. Although…" I say thoughtfully, shooting a knowing glance at Alexy, "you might make a great Gaston."

"Who the hell is that?"

"He's the self-obsessed jerk who gets thrown off the castle at the end," Alexy informs him, cracking up at the idea. "You might be onto something, girl!"

"I am not doing that," Castiel protests.

"Hmm. Gaston happens to be Elena's favorite character," I say with a smirk.

"And why does that matter?" he growls.

"Just thought you'd like to know," I tell him, closing my notebook. "But you need to participate, and we don't have any off-stage positions left." Castiel looks to Lysander for help, but he just shrugs.

"Your call," he says. Castiel sneers and storms away without giving us an answer.

"Well, I guess we'll see if he shows up to audition," I say, reaching across the table and stealing Alexy's purple pen. I reopen my notebook and write my name in the front. I really like this color. "Can I have this?" I ask Alexy. He grins.

"Sure, whatever. I've got loads more where that came from."

"Cool."

"Hey, Alexy!" Armin and Frankie come up behind us. "I'm not gonna be able to go shopping with you today, okay? I really wanna talk to Xeno- uh, Frankie."

"Armin!" Alexy cries, spinning around in his chair to face his brother. "That's the twenty-first time this month! And it's the twenty-first of October!"

"I'll go look for Halloween costumes tomorrow, okay? I promise," Armin says.

"That's what you say every day!" Alexy whines.

"I know! But I actually _want _to go look for Halloween stuff," Armin says defensively. "And I didn't exactly expect to find my internet friend here." Without waiting for Alexy to protest again, Armin turns around and he and Frankie leave.

"Bye, Monique!" Frankie calls. I wave goodbye and look back at Alexy, who seems quite upset.

"He never wants to go with me!" he complains. "He always finds an excuse."

"I don't think he really wanted to go, though. Maybe you could go shopping with-"

"You?" Alexy cuts me off, grinning again. "That'd be so much fun!" I was actually going to say Melanie; I hate shopping, but he looks so happy that I just can't find it in me to say now. Alexy jumps up from his chair and gives me a giant hug. "Thank you! Meet me outside after school okay?"

Well, I guess I've got myself a date.

_Carrie Knight_

When Dahlia doesn't show up for lunch, we start to get worried.

"Have you seen her at all today?" I ask Sammy. She shakes her head in response.

"She wasn't in the garden club. Jade and Violette were kinda irritated."

"Do you have any idea where she was?"

"Nope."

"You wanna go look for her?" Sammy gives me an incredulous look.

"What could possibly be wrong with her? She's probably just hanging out with Ken or something." Eh, Sammy's probably right. New couples are always like that, especially when they've always, you know, _had_ something. But I just have a bad feeling.

"Okay, whatever. Hey, German!" German leans over the table and looks down at me.

"Yep?"

"I'm gonna go try to find Dahlia. You wanna come?"

"Sure!" German says. "I'm done eating."

"'Kay, let's go." We stand up and take off down the hall.

"Where do you think she is?" German asks after we search the outside and a few of the classrooms.

"I don't know. She's probably fine, but I just have that feeling, you know?" German nods.

"Yeah, I get that sometimes."

After several more minutes of searching with no luck, we're out of places to look, and both of us are becoming increasingly worried. Now, I'm positive that something's up. I haven't seen Ken either, but I don't think she'd ditch the whole day just to hang out with her new boyfriend. And Ken wouldn't ask that of her; he's not like Castiel.

"We could try the roof," German suggests. "That's the only other place I can think of. Students aren't allowed up there on their own, but…"

"Let's go."

No one's in the hall, so we run back to the staircase without being caught by the principal, thank goodness. We climb up onto the roof, and on a regular day I would have stopped to admire the plants and the scenery, but the sight of Dahlia fast asleep clutching a teddy bear grabs my attention.

"Dahlia?" German says, approaching the sleeping girl. "Dahlia! Wakey-wakey!"

"Hey!" I take the bear from her arms, hoping that that will wake her up. It does.

"Give that back!" she yells, sitting up quickly. "It's from Ken!"

"Where is Ken?" German asks curiously. I toss the bear back to her.

"Sorry," I mutter.

"He's gone," Dahlia says bitterly, angry tears running down her face. "His good for nothing dad sent him to military school." German and I both gasp. No one saw that coming.

"Dahlia, are you serious?" I ask. She nods sharply.

"Please just leave me alone," she says, hugging the bear again and lying back down. Oh, gosh. This is bad. Ken can't have left! He and Dahlia were perfect! But I'm not good at this. German is.

She goes over and kneels down on her knees in front of Dahlia and whispers some things to her. Dahlia shakes her head initially, but then she starts to give in to whatever German is saying. I finally see her mouth the word 'okay.' She stands up reluctantly and puts the teddy bear into her backpack. While she's doing this, German comes back over to me.

"What did you tell her?" I ask.

"I told her that she's going to need a lot of time to get over it and we understand that, but isolating herself will make it even harder. She needs to surround herself with her friends. And I also told her that some of you guys are going over to Leigh and Lysander's this evening and that I'm sure she could come if she wants."

"Oh, yeah, absolutely," I say. "Melanie says that the only reason Leigh's having us all over is because he's trying to distract himself from thinking about Rosalya."

"Right. So it'll be good for her too." Dahlia finishes gathering her things and sulks over to us.

"Okay, I'm ready," she sighs. I give her a hug before we head downstairs.

"Oh, hey! You're Ken's girlfriend, huh?" Oh, no. This is not a good time…

"Go away, Amber," I grumble, turning to face the annoying blonde. "Just leave her alone."

"Why? She clearly needs a hug; I just saw Ken leaving earlier today. Did he decide he didn't like you anymore?"

"That's not what happened," Dahlia snaps.

"Oh! So you decided you didn't like him then? Well, I can help you with that." Without missing a beat, Amber takes Dahlia's phone from her back pocket and starts typing something in. "Dear Ken, I hate you. So glad you're gone, do not reply. Love, Dahlia. Aaaannnd….send."

"What? Give that back you…" Dahlia lunges for her phone angrily, but Amber holds it just out of her reach.

"And…delete contact," Amber says, pressing a few more buttons. Dahlia screams and grabs her phone back from Amber, scrolling through her contacts list desperately.

"I can't believe you just did that!" she shrieks, beginning to cry again. "Why would you delete him?"

"Eh, he was stupid," Amber shrugs.

"No, he wasn't! You…!"

"Oh, please. Stop being such a crybaby and go do something productive," Amber snaps.

"Stop bothering her!" I yell.

"Make me!" Amber challenges. I step forward with my hand raised, but German does it for me. She raises her hand and brings it down fast on Amber's perfectly made-up face. Amber gasps and holds a hand to her cheek, staring at German like she's got fifty heads.

"You didn't…"

"Oh, but I did. Now run along, honey," German says condescendingly, shooing Amber away with her hand. "Bye bye, now." Amber huffs and spins around, marching towards the front door.

"Thanks, German," Dahlia says, her voice small.

"No prob," German says with a smug smile. "I've always wanted to do that."

"Well, it was well deserved," I say, watching Amber leave. She doesn't look back even once. "Let's go, Dahlia."

The bell rings for the end of lunch before we get back to the cafeteria, and we separate to go to our different classes. Dahlia promises that she'll suffer through, and then she'll go to Leigh and Lysander's house with us. We promise not to tell anyone about Ken's sudden departure.

Dajan stops me on the way to Math.

"Hey, Carrie!"

"Hmm?" I lean against the wall and look up at him. Gosh, he's tall…

"You doing anything this Friday evening?"

"Um, this Friday? Nope, not as far as I know, why?"

"Do you want to go on a real date?" he asks. "I mean, I figure it's about time, right?" There's no tone of doubt or hesitation in his voice.

"Sure," I reply back, hoping my voice sounds just as confident. "Where to?"

"It's a surprise," he says, grinning. "Just come with me after school on Friday, 'kay?"

"Sounds good," I say. I flick a strand of hair out of his face and turn the doorknob to my classroom.

_Luzma Alejandri-Cruz_

"Hey, guys! Who's all going over to Leigh's?" Melanie asks us. "Because we've got to leave like, now."

"Not me," Rachel says. "I've got to study."

"I'm not really in the mood," Sammy says.

"I need to rehearse for my audition on Friday," Frankie says, "and Elena needs to help me with the piano."

"I'm not doing anything," I say. "I guess I might as well go."

"I really need to work on this script," Monique says. She's been texting Alexy back and forth ever since we got home. "Alexy and I need to figure some things out."

"I'll go," Carly says. She's trying not to seem too excited, but she'd never turn down a chance to see Lysander.

"We're going, too," Carrie says, holding up Dahlia's hand. Dahlia's gotten all quiet again, just like she did this summer, and none of us are sure why, but this time she won't even talk to Elena. Carrie's been working overtime to cheer her up.

"Luz, you're driving," Melanie says, tossing me the car keys. I'm really getting sick of driving everyone everywhere.

We pile into Jemma's car and Melanie plugs Leigh's address into her GPS. She relates the directions to me from the passenger seat, and unlike Jemma's house, Leigh's is easy to find.

It's not a house, technically. It's an apartment. But none of us really expected two brothers barely living on their own to have a big house. And it's cute; I've always loved brick buildings.

Melanie leads the way to their apartment with a certain spring in her step. Carly follows close behind, and the rest of us fall into line behind her. When we finally find their door, Melanie rings the bell. Leigh opens up almost immediately.

"Hi, come on in," he says, holding the door open. He seems a lot like Dahlia; trying to put on a brave face, but giving away some of his true emotions through his eyes. We don't know what Dahlia's problem is, though. We file past him and into the living area. It's very quaint, with the whole shabby chic thing going on. There's an electronic keyboard in the corner, next to a TV, and a lot of lamps and old fashioned furniture. There's a single hallway which probably leads to the bedrooms, kitchen, and bathroom. A huge bookshelf covers one wall, and it's shelved with old leather bound books as well as new ones. It may just be me, but I swear I see a Twilight book or two. It takes me a moment to realize that they're probably Rosalya's. I wonder how much time she spent here, and if she'll come to get her books back. Leigh takes our jackets like the gentleman he is and hangs them up in a little closet before inviting us to sit down.

"Who's here, Leigh?" Lysander calls from down the hall. Carly's eyes open wide.

"You didn't tell him we were coming?" she asks in horror.

"I figured we could all use a laugh," Leigh shrugs. He seems to be right, because I think I actually see Dahlia smile. I chuckle, imagining Lysander's reaction to having five girls in his living room. Leigh doesn't reply to his brother.

"Leigh? Leigh, who's h-" Lysander stops in his tracks when he sees us. He's holding that old notebook, as usual, but his feet are bare and his long black jacket is unbuttoned, revealing a plain white t-shirt underneath. It seems we've caught him completely by surprise. While his face betrays no emotion, his eyes do travel back and forth between us several times, and before long we're all cracking up at his reaction to us. Lysander looks at his brother questioningly.

"I had just invited Melanie and some of her friends to come see the collection," Leigh explains, giving Lysander a pointed stare.

"You could have warned me…" Lysander says quietly.

"I wanted it to be a surprise."

"Well, consider me surprised." Lysander turns to leave, but Leigh stops him.

"What if I call Castiel and get him to come over?" he asks, an apologetic tone in his voice. "Please? I just really don't want to be alone…I start thinking about…" his voice fades out, and Lysander sighs, defeated.

"You don't have to call Castiel," he says, turning back. "But what exactly are we going to do? You do realize how this looks, Leigh."

"I know, I know. I didn't really think about that until afterwards. But I had some things I wanted to show Melanie, and we could have a fashion show or something else fun."

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Melanie approves, grinning. I roll my eyes as Carrie and Dahlia shrink into their seats. Carly's face darkens.

"I am not modeling for anyone," she says decisively. Hmmm. Usually she loves dress up.

"You're right…it's stupid…" Leigh says softly, fingering with the arm of the couch. "I'm sorry, guys, I just thought…"

"Hey, why don't you just show me what you've got, okay?" Melanie says, glaring at Carly. "It'll help you take your mind off things."

"Yeah, okay," Leigh agrees. He stands and leads his brother and Melanie down the hall to some unknown room, leaving the rest of us sitting awkwardly in the living room. Dahlia just curls up on the couch and Carrie starts French braiding her hair to pass the time. Carly stands and starts heading towards the piano when Melanie comes back screaming.

"Leigh is an angel!" she says. "An absolute angel! Come see, come see!" We run after her into a little spare room at the very end of the hall, right past the archway that leads to the kitchen. Inside are sixteen mannequins, all dressed in beautiful dresses. Several moments later, after I've had time to analyze the familiar designs and Melanie's ecstatic screaming, I realize that these are those fruit dresses Melanie designed. Leigh has brought them to life for her.

"Oh, wow…" Carrie breathes, looking at all the dresses. Leigh is standing behind the mannequins, looking embarrassed by all the attention. Lysander is leaning against the wall smiling.

"Mel, are these the dresses you…?" Dahlia questions.

"Yes!" Melanie squeals. "Yes! Leigh made my dresses!" Carly narrows her eyes.

"I'll try on one," she gives in. "Just one, though." I knew she'd come around.

"Take your pick, Miss," Leigh says, gesturing towards the plethora of dresses. Carly wanders in circles for a few seconds, trying to decide which dress she wants. Finally, she glances back at Leigh, defeated.

"Fine. I'll try on five. But no more than that!"

"Five?" Carrie giggles. "In that case, I'll try one I guess. That one," she says, pointing to a long yellow gown. It's one of the more simple designs, but also one of the more elegant.

"Hmmm…I could try on that one," I say, pointing to a short green one. It's pretty much my style. Or, it would be if it wasn't green…oh well. Dahlia sits down against the wall and watches us as we examine the dresses, telling us that she doesn't really want to try one on. Melanie gravitates towards a pink one I think I remember to be watermelon. But these dresses don't look anything like fruits; they're too pretty.

Carly eventually decides on a strapless dark blue dress with ruffles around the hem; blackberry, I think. Leigh helps us get the dresses off of the mannequins, and then he and Lysander leave. I have to admit, this whole situation is a little strange, but the dresses are just so pretty. And they were designed by Melanie! You can't get much cooler than that.

Melanie is practically jumping up and down nonstop as she puts on the watermelon dress. It fits her perfectly, and Carly helps her to zip it up. She twirls around and admires herself in the mirror on the back of the door.

"It's so pretty!" she says excitedly. "I can't believe Leigh actually made them all!"

"Yeah, I really like this one," Carly agrees, spinning around in the dark blue dress. I have to admit, I like this green one despite it not being my color, and Carrie looks perfect in the yellow.

"Are you going to show the guys?" Dahlia asks us.

"Hmm…I don't know. Isn't that kind of weird? You know, to do a fashion show for two guys we've known for like, what, a month?" Carrie says.

"It's not like a fashion show," Melanie disagrees. "I think he had just made my dresses and wanted to show me, but then he got all upset about Rosalya and just wanted some people to come over. I don't think he has a whole lot of friends."

"Alright, fine," I sigh. "I guess it can't hurt." Melanie jumps around in a circle again and knocks on the door.

"Should we come out or do you want to come in?" she calls.

"Go ahead and come out," Leigh says. "It'll be less crowded." Melanie opens the door and rushes out. The rest of us stay put.

"What do you think?"

"Hmm…I think the stitching on the sleeve is a little off," he says, "but I like it. It suits you."

"Guys, are you coming?" Melanie calls back. Carrie shrugs and prances out.

"Same thing with the sleeves," we hear Leigh say. "But the fit is great, don't you think, Mel?"

"Yeah, I especially like the shawl," she says. "The blue works really well with it."

"I agree." They talk for several minutes critiquing the dresses before I decide I'm tired of waiting here.

"Come on, Carly," I say, taking my friend's hand. She tries to run back, but I'm a lot stronger than she is.

"Hello!" I say in a singsong voice. "Aren't we lovely?" Lysander is sitting on the couch, but Leigh is standing with Melanie and Carrie.

"I don't understand why I have so much trouble with sleeves," Leigh says, irritated. The sleeves on my dress are long and flowy, kind of like a medieval princess. "And the ruffles on Carly's are a little uneven."

"Really?" Melanie says, examining the two dresses. "You're really too hard on yourself, I haven't noticed anything you've said so far."

"Well you're the designer and you're just happy that I made your dresses…" Leigh says softly.

"I'm tired of this," Dahlia groans, coming out from the hall. I hadn't even realized she had stayed behind. "Can't we just play a board game or watch a movie or something like a normal party?"

"I wouldn't call it a party," Leigh says. "But I'm sure my brother would be happy to put something on if you'd like."

"Disney!" Carly cries. "Can we watch The Little Mermaid?"

"I don't think we have that…" Leigh responds.

"Hmm. I guess it is a little girly. What about Hercules?"

"I don't think we have any of those movies, Carly," Lysander says from the couch. Carly scowls.

"Well, then, one of these days I will bring them all over and we shall watch them," she says decisively. I wonder if she notices that she's basically inviting herself over again. Dahlia walks over to the shelf of movies and pulls one out.

"Lord of the Rings," she says. "That's a nice, action movie, right?"

"Haven't you ever seen it?" I ask incredulously.

"Well…no," Dahlia admits. "I haven't."

"Well, you're in for a treat, then," Lysander says, standing and taking the movie from her. He inserts it into the DVD player and presses some buttons on the remote to make the main menu come up. "Leigh here can quote the entire thing."

"I do believe you've confused me with yourself," Leigh says with a small smile. He takes a box of pins from a nearby table and starts fixing the sleeves on Melanie's dress. She watches the meticulous movements of his fingers intently.

"I can quote the whole thing!" I say, raising my hand and plopping down on a plush armchair. "Except for the Elvish parts. I only know the subtitles for those."

"Have you seen The Hobbit?" Carrie asks, sitting down as well. "I haven't gotten a chance to yet."

"Neither have we," Lysander says. "Leigh was all for it until they decided to make it a trilogy."

"Oh my gosh, did you see the Saturday Night Live spoof on that?" Carly asks, giggling. "It was dead on!" Lysander smiles at her enthusiasm.

"No, I don't usually watch that," he says.

"What about Once Upon a Time on ABC?" Carly asks. "You watch that, right?"

"That was Rosa's favorite show, actually," Leigh says, speaking up from the corner. Suddenly, the room gets quiet.

"Oh…I'm sorry, Leigh," Carly apologizes quickly.

"No, no, it's alright. You couldn't have known," Leigh responds. "But if you girls wouldn't mind getting out of those dresses, I'd like to make some alterations."

"Oh, sure," I say, standing up. This dress is too tight for me anyways. "C'mon, guys." We go back into the office room and change back into our street clothes. Well, all except for Melanie. Leigh is still working on her sleeves. I thought they looked fine, but I guess that's why I'm better with cars than with clothes.

When we come back, Lysander starts the movie as Melanie and Leigh go to further examine and alter the plethora of dresses.

"Luz, I'll give you twenty bucks if you can quote more than Lysander," Carrie challenges.

"Leigh was joking when he said that," Lysander says with a smile. "Truth is, I can't remember much of anything save for the basic storyline. I have an awful memory."

"I know Pippin's song from the third one," Carly says, "but that's about it."

"Well, I don't know any of it, so hush up!" Dahlia hisses. She's sitting by herself in the armchair I was in earlier. Feeling especially devious, I shove Carly over to the couch right next to Lysander, with me on the other side of her. Carrie sits next to me on the end of the couch.

We pretty much have a running commentary going for the entire movie, and Dahlia tells us repeatedly to be quiet so that she can hear, but it just doesn't work. But by nine o'clock, when Melanie and Leigh finally emerge from the office and announce that it's time to go, we're only about halfway through.

"Come on! Just five more minutes?" I beg childishly. "It's just getting to the good part!" Melanie and Leigh shake their heads simultaneously.

"We have school tomorrow," Melanie reminds us. Oh, right. I'd completely forgotten that this was only Monday. The week has felt so long already.

"I guess you're right," I sigh. "Well, thanks for the movie, guys. And Leigh, the dresses are beautiful."

"Thank you."

The drive back home is mellow, but everyone is in a good mood. Melanie talks about how nice it is to have a friend who shares her interests, Dahlia talks about how tragic Arwen and Aragorn's relationship is of al things, Carrie tells us about her date with Dajan, which is big news, and I don't really have much to say.

I mean, I got several texts from Dake during the movie asking why I won't reply, but I've realized that I don't need him to be happy, do I? All I need is a few good friends and a movie night every once and a while. That's good enough for me.

**I hope you liked it, and please review! Ken, my darling, you will be missed :(**

**Beauty and the Beast officially gets under way next chapter! Yay!**

**Luv yah, **

**Ava**


	12. Author's Note

**Hello my lovelies, Ava here. Sorry to disappoint; you probably thought this was an update. Sadly, this is not the case. **

**First and foremost, I just want to apologize for taking so long. That time I was writing a lot was when I was on spring break and was literally doing nothing, so I had a lot of free time in which to write. While I am 2/3 of the way through with the next chapter, I haven't had near as much time, and in the time I do have, I admit, I've been working on a Castiel fic that is coming along really epically. **

**For some reason, in addition to not having as much time, I just haven't felt very inspired to write the story the past several days, probably due to the fact that it was my entire life for about a week. You know how when you have pizza every single day for a week, and then on the 8****th**** day the idea of eating pizza just makes you sick? Of course you'll eventually want to have pizza again sometime in the near future, but you just need a little break from it. That's kind of what I'm going through now. **

**So, in conclusion, I AM NOT quitting the story, but I do need a little break and I just wanted to let you guys know that so you don't think I disappeared of the face of the earth or just decided to drop the story or something. In all truthfulness, it may not be until after I get annoyed with my Castiel story, which is due to happen fairly soon, actually, so nevermind. **

**Just wanted to let you guys know, and I'm sorry! If I don't update soon I'll just go ahead and post the short chapter I have and make it up to you all later. **

**Luv yah, **

**Ava**


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